Life in another world
by MoistButCrispy
Summary: A guy from Earth suddenly finds himself in the hands of a mysterious deity who claims to require his help. Armed with a bullshit semblance, a 'colourful' vocabulary and the will to change this new world he has found himself in, Can Leo even hope to change this cursed world's fate? "Probably not...Then again...I CAN shit out lightning like I'm a Sith...so..maybe?"-Leo Helios
1. Chapter 1: To Remnant!

**This is one of those 'gamer semblance' fanfics.**

 **Also, the main character is going to become somewhat OP, but not in the 'one punch' type of OP, more like 'imagine Ozzy lad's magic before he threw all of it at randoms' type OP.**

 **The main character won't be that overpowered right off the bat. Rather, he will slowly become more powerful over time, though he does start off at a semi-decent midpoint.**

 **Considering how a bunch of other fics of these types tell you what type of fighter he will be, Leo is going to pretty much be a battlemage of sorts.**

* * *

If there was one thing that Leo Helios, a rather devilishly handsome teenager from Earth didn't expect. It was to somehow end up in the world of Remnant, More specifically in Headmaster Ozpins office.

Leo is 7"1ft tall, which is abnormally large for someone from earth (it's a complete mystery to even himself as to why he never bothered to play basketball). His facial features could be described as somewhat devilish, in the sense that he looks like the kind of person who just wants to have some fun, no matter the consequences. his unique amber eyes almost glowed with a distinct orange tint that made his irises appear to be on fire. His dark brown hair, which almost seems to appear as a fiery red when in direct sunlight is always combed back, save for a certain group of mischievous strands that simply refuse to comply and hang forward. Due to the fact that Leo simply loved going to the gym, he has developed well-toned muscles all over his body that give him quite an intimidating look.

Leo loved going to the gym after his day at college, it cleared his head and allowed him to ease any frustrations. So, as per usual, he had been walking to the gym after his rather average day when he suddenly blacked out. As he awoke, Leo quickly realised that he was sitting in some strange void where some random old guy who claimed he was a 'God, but with a little-g' and needed his help. Obviously, denying a god of any sorts when he wanted you to do something was a surefire way to get killed, so Leo, with his now-questionable sanity and a poor attempt to keep calm, agreed to help. The 'god' then gave him a few minutes to calm down, unlocked his aura, gave him some random powers that basically make everything a video game and sent him on his way. "alright kid. You kids like video games from where you're from, right? okay, so...here you go, good luck."

and by sent him on his way, the god decided to whack the black-haired teen over the head with a comically large frying pan. 'out of the frying pan and into the fire...ha-fucking-ha!'

Now, Leo was sitting in the office of professor Ozpin, though the man himself wasn't present at the time. Leo only had what he had with him back on earth when he appeared in that void. He wore his favourite padded black jacket, which he kept open so he could stay cool. The jacket also had grey fur around the collar to protect from strong winds. He wore a simple white t-shirt, which he uses as his designated gym shirt, and a pair of black dress pants, which are accompanied by his rather expensive silver and gold running shoes.

As the teenager ran a hand through his slicked-back mess of black hair out of the shock of what had just happened, a final fantasy-escuque box appeared in front of him.  
-

 ** _*Quest Start: Welcome, to the world of Remnant! Part 1_**

 ** _Quest description: Due to your private hobbies that you never let anyone of your friends back on earth know about (likely out of fear of being cast out or something stupid like that), you have seen every single episode of RWBY that has been released to the point where practically no event from the show will go unnoticed by you. If a god really did give you some badass power, then you should figure it out as fast as possible!_**

 ** _Quest steps: Figure out how your new ability (your semblance) works._**

 ** _Completion rewards: Quest continuation, Badass semblance._**

 ** _Failure results: No cool semblance_**

 ** _Time Limit: 5 Minutes_**

 ** _Accept Decline_**

Hitting the 'accept' button, the strange box disappeared without a trace, once again leaving Leo in complete and utter silence. "okayy, I guess I'll go for voice commands first...that should work. Character."

 _*Your flawless effort at opening the character menu has earned you 1 INT point!* 'neat'_

A large menu opened up in front of Leo. It looked like what you'd expect to see in a basic RPG. There was the hollow outline of a human in an A-pose with several boxes surrounding him, some of which had already been filled by what Leo realised were his schoolbag and his clothes. There was a small inventory window next to the character, said menu had a row of different menus at the top, such as: Stats, Character, Settings, Inventory, Skills and Spells.

Hitting the stats button, Leo was rewarded with...well, the stats menu.

 ** _*Leo Helios (Level 1)_**

 ** _Semblance: 'g'ods Gift (The Gamer)_**

 ** _Age: 17_**

 ** _Gender: Male_**

 ** _Height: 7"1_**

 ** _HP: 100/100_**

 ** _MP: 100/100_**

 ** _STR: 10_**

 ** _DEX: 10_**

 ** _END: 10_**

 ** _VIT: 10_**

 ** _INT: 11_**

 ** _WIS:10_**

 ** _CHA: 10_**

'No luck stat? also, I'm pretty sure I should have a few points from when I was back on earth! I didn't go to the gym for nothing!'

As if on cue, another text box popped up: _*Synchronizing previously saved data file with the new file . . . Synchronization complete*_

'well, now I know how this thing works. Just complain and it'll give you whatever you want.'

His stat menu now read:

 ** _Leo Helios (level 12)_**

 ** _Semblance: 'g'ods Gift (The Gamer)_**

 ** _Age 17_**

 ** _Gender: Male_**

 ** _Height: 7"1_**

 ** _HP: 200/200_**

 ** _MP: 100/100_**

 ** _STR: 30_**

 ** _DEX: 15_**

 ** _END: 25_**

 ** _VIT: 20_**

 ** _INT: 16_**

 ** _WIS: 10_**

 ** _CHA: 15_**

Based on his stats, VIT represents the stat for HP, while WIS represents the stat for MP.

Hitting the skills button, Leo saw that he had a lot to learn. He wasn't proficient at anything except 'weaponless melee combat' and 'martial arts', which were sitting nicely at levels 45 and 29 respectively. 'at least I can fight, I guess.'

He also had a 'title' of sorts: _'the outsider' You hold knowledge that is unknown to all, EXP gains increased by 200%, you Also gain a massively increased MP Regen for: 1 hour_

 _Quest step complete!_

 ** _*Quest: Welcome, to the world of Remnant! Part 1_**

 ** _Completion description: You have figured out the most basic portion of your semblance!_**

 ** _*Next Quest step: Get into Beacon_**

 ** _Description: You already know the events of RWBY, the easiest way to change the events of the show is to get accepted into the academy_**

 ** _Quest Step: Convince Ozpin (Optional: Create Spell that will better allow you to convince him), Optional: Convince Glynda Goodwich_**

 ** _Completion rewards: Quest continuation, Spot at Beacon_**

 ** _Failure results: Alternate quest line (Betray ? questline)_**

 ** _Accept *Cannot Decline*_**

With the 'decline' button greyed out, Leo pressed the 'accept' button just as the ding of an elevator rang throughout the office. The fiery amber eyes of Leo met with the coffee brown orbs of a slightly shocked Ozpin. The two stared at one another in silence for a moment until Ozpin spoke up, "Apologies, I hope I haven't kept you waiting long, Mr..."

"Helios. My name is Leo Helios." That answer satisfied the headmaster and he promptly strolled over to the other side of his desk and sat in his chair.

"well, it is certainly good to meet you, Mr Helios. I was almost worried that you wouldn't show up to Beacon at all." wait, what? a slight buzzing in the professors pocket brought his attention to his scroll. "Ah, as if right on cue, here is a message from your grandfather asking if you arrived safely." WAIT, WHAT?!

"My...grandfather, sir?" The headmaster nodded and showed Leo the message. The profile picture of his 'grandfather' was actually just the 'god' that had sent him into this world. Albeit, he looked a lot less like a 'menacing, world-creating deity' and more like a 'happy drunken old man'. The message read: "G'day headmaster, has my boy Leo has gotten to you safely? The Lil' shit didn't bother calling me, so my wife is panicking and assumed the worst."

"yes, your grandfather. Am I correct in saying that he was the one who trained you?" Shiiit, this is gonna make the old god guy look bad if I say yes when I don't know how to properly use a weapon...fuck it, I'll just say I broke it or something.

"uhh, yeah. though I managed to break my weapon in a fight a while ago. Though I can use my fists to fight just fine." Leo replied, rather sheepishly, at that. While all of this was going on, Leo was secretly scrolling through his menus under the desk. He had explored pretty much every basic window. He found a 'skill creation' tab that allowed him to create spells from games such as 'Skyrim' if he had the required stats. Some of the skills required massive stat pools, such as 'invisibility', which required 100 INT and 50 WIS. 'well, that's gonna be fun to unlock.'

The headmaster didn't seem to notice whatever it was Leo was doing and simply shrugged off his comment, "that's good, though your transcripts certainly leave a fair bit to the imagination, what with your semblance containing little more than the words "you'll figure it out, mate"... I would assume your grandfather filled this out, but that's alright. Now, considering that you have arrived late, we don't actually have a team ready for you, and I'm not expecting one to just...pop out of thin air anytime soon. You will, of course, still have to complete the initiation. While the Official initiation was completed earlier today, I believe the forest still contains a pair of relics that weren't recovered..."

Checking a tablet-like scroll, Ozpin hummed thoughtfully, "hmm, yes. You will be completing your initiation today, if that's alright?"

The brunette simply nodded as he tried to keep his cool, so far he was doing well. "of course. Mind if I leave my bag somewhere until afterwards?"

"Of course, leave it here and I will have someone take it to your locker. If you would follow miss Goodwich, she will escort you to the initiation zone. Ah, here she is now." The elevator dinged once again and the perfect definition of 'sexy librarian' strutted out. "Glynda, if you could please escort Mr Helios to the cliffs, then we can begin his initiation."

The woman nodded in response and motioned for Leo to follow.

After a terribly awkward elevator ride, Leo was mentally preparing himself for what was to come. 'I'm going to get fucking launched off a cliff...aren't i?'

As Leo followed the deputy headmaster through the campus, he noticed a set of eyes watching him. He had caught the attention of none other than Cardin Winchester, who was looking out of a classroom window. 'i'm going to stomp him into the ground at every chance I get...wait, can I even beat him? I do have a fair few levels in martial arts and hand-to-weapon combat, so I should be fine...hopefully?'

A short walk later and the two had made it to the cliffs. Glynda now held a large tablet-like scroll to her chest and was busy typing something out, "Now, Mr...Helios, was it? Due to your supposed combat prowess, your initiation will be recorded, and the footage is currently being shown to the first years combat education class, try not to disappoint. Stand on the pad, please"

'Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me! this shit is getting recorded? I've got to come up with a landing strategy, and fast!' the now terrified brunette thought to himself as he moved over to the launch pad. 'what is a way I can make a spell to not let me die from falling without having much in the way of INT points?'

The pad sprang Leo into the sky just as he started to panic slightly, 'HEY, OLD GOD GUY! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, I'D LIKE A HAND!'

Leo could've sworn he heard the voice of an old man grumbling and cursing. As the grumbling finished, Leo suddenly felt as if he could take on the entire world at once.

'HOLY SHIT! I should do a ground slam or something! Thanks, God!' The blonde raised his arms into the air and an endless flood of both aura and mana rushed through his veins. The few clouds that were in the sky began to thicken and darken into...thunderclouds?

as if on cue, various skills were both created and activated:

 ** _*Melee S_ _kill Created!_**

 ** _Fist Of Havoc! (One Time Use) Required to unlock: ? STR, ? END, ? INT_**

 ** _Charge your body with mana to create a lightning effect that creates a massive AOE effect and a crater of the point of impact (Damage increases the higher the user is when the skill is activated)_**

 ** _Cost: 100MP_**

 ** _*Thunder Crash Variant Unlocked!: (Level stays the same as Fist Of Havoc) (One Time Use) Required to unlock: ?_**

 ** _Charge your body with both Mana and Aura to create a Devastating crater._**

 ** _Cost: 200MP, 50% of total Aura_**

 ** _*Thunder God Activated (*One Time Use) Required to unlock: ?_**

 ** _Due to your sudden and dire need for power, the deity who sent you here has allowed you have become the God of Thunder for 1 minute. this has also created a raging thunderstorm that lasts for a short period of time!_**

 ** _2x STR, Aura of lightning, Empowered limbs, thunderstrikes!_**

 ** _After thunder god runs out, the users DEX stat will be halved for a time due to muscle tearing._**

 ** _Cost: ?MP, 50% total aura._**

 ** _*thunderstrike (level 1)_**

 ** _Wreathe your limbs in Lightning before striking an opponent to deal both Electrical and Physical damage_**

 ** _Cost: 25MP_**

'well that's useful...also a total rip off from destiny...why are my eyes glowing? am I like Thor from Thor: Ragnarok now? wait a sec, Muscle tearing?! my aura better do something about that!'

As Leo rocketed towards the forest floor, the sky became blanketed in thick black clouds. As the brunette grew closer to the soft ground of the emerald forest, the grass and nearby trees were incinerated instantly. He slammed both his fists into the ground like...'i'm a titan from destiny now...SWEET...', the impact of which created a massive crater that physically warped the air around him as it crackled in response to the amount of energy.

Moments passed and Leo jumped out of his crater with ease. His eyes, which were once a fiery amber, were now a glowing blue. His large frame was physically crackling with lightning that occasionally leapt off of his body in order to cut some burning swathe through a few blades of grass. 'welp, time to keep up this new 'badass guy' act, I guess. I swear that my semblance is keeping me from panicking or something because I should definitely be panicking right now!' Leo thought to himself as he 'bolted' off in the direction of his objective.

Only a few seconds had passed before Leo came into contact with his first Grimm. A Large Beringel was standing in a clearing when Leo carelessly rocketed into its side. 'Oh, fuck.'

Meanwhile, in the combat class, the students were staring in 'shock' some random guy who was currently wreathed in lightning tear into a Beringel as if it were a common beowolf or something. Every time the beast tried to strike at the brunette, he would either disappear in a flash of electricity or retaliate with lightning that would leave deep scorch marks in the demon's flesh and force its muscles to spasm randomly.

The class sat in shocked silence as they watched their new peer, who had since been identified as 'Leo', mercilessly vaporise the once-powerful Beringel. The Grimm began to dissipate as he went on his merry way. Nobody said anything for a while until a certain Valkyrie spoke up, "THAT... WAS...AWESOME!"

*back in the forest*

Leo sprinted and leapt through the forest as fast as his lightning-empowered limbs would take him. He guessed that he was almost at his objective, but 'thunder god' was about to wear off "THIS IS SO FUN!...why is thunder god a one-time use thing?" he grumbled to himself.

As his not-so-luck would have it, the moment he ran out of time for his 'thunder god' spell, Leo tripped and ended up rolling, in an almost comical fashion. Until he hit an ill-placed tree, that is.

"uuughhh, whyyy?" the teen groaned as he staggered to his feet. 'on the plus side, I can now see my mana bar as well as my aura...how? ah, fuck it, who cares?' True to his thoughts, three traditional bars had popped into the top left of his vision. There was a HP bar, an MP bar and a bar that showed how much aura he had.

 **MP: 15/100. HP: 200/200: Aura Levels: 45%**

he had used fist of havoc, which used up all of his mana 1 minute ago, and he now had 15 mana. 'i guess I regen 15 mana per minute. Why couldn't you just give me infinite mana, god?'

Leo dusted himself off and walked past his arch-nemesis: That dreaded tree.

Soon after, Leo found himself in a clearing. He had encountered a few more Grimm since that Beringel, but, he hadn't encountered any since thunder god wore off. The few Grimm he had encountered while using said ability he had promptly disintegrated with concentrated blasts of lightning. 'I bet an entire horde of deathstalkers will show up, or some bullshit like that.'

The brunette strolled towards the altar that he remembered from volume 1 of RWBY. Except this time, there was only a single pair of chess pieces in the back of the ruined structure on their platforms. These pieces were that of a Light King. 'I guess I'm not on team RWBY or JNPR then...dammit.'

Grabbing a single piece and putting it safely in the back pocket of his pants, Leo turned to make his way back to beacon, he realised something had suddenly gone very wrong 'Oh, okay then...that's what it meant by muscle tearing...my calfs feel like they've been hit by a semi-truck!'.

As Leo stood, just a few feet away from the altar, trying to allow his aura to heal his muscles, which were healing rather quickly, He soon noticed a single set of glowing red eyes at one edge of the clearing. 'oh, I am so beyond fucked at this point' Leo thought to himself as lightning streaked through the clouds above. 'unless the thunderstorm is on my side, that is...come onnnn storm call shout from Skyrim...'

The biggest Ursa he had ever seen slowly lumbered out of the treeline. It looked to be roughly twice as large as the Ursa Major which had attacked Cardin during the 'forever fall' segment of volume 1. 'that's beyond being a major at this point... I am fucked, aren't I?', Leo stood tall. As his aura rushed to heal him, he tried to formulate a plan. "ooookay...thunderstorm, help?"

Nothing. The Ursa, which Leo's semblance quickly identified as: _'Castillo, The Great Bear. (Level ?) Threat Level: Good Luck'_ began to creep closer.

 ** _*you have created a skill!_**

 ** _Observe (level 1)_**

 ** _Identifies an opponent's strengths and weaknesses, also displays threat level and aura levels._**

'okay, thanks skill creation, but...uhhhh, nope. umm...i need something else...WAIT! WHAT THE FUCK DOES "GOOD LUCK" MEAN FOR THE THREAT LEVEL?!' Leo was thinking of hundreds of potential skills and spells at this point, though it wasn't like he could even cast anything that could kill this beast at this point, he only had 30MP...wait, what?

As the Ursa strolled towards Leo, seemingly aware of how simple this victory would be, the lightning bolts that were raging in the storm above congregated into one point and shot towards the beast.

 *** _You have created a Spell!_**

 ** _Elemental Focus! (level 1)_**

 ** _Focus your energy on the world around you to use the elements to assist you in combat._**

 ** _Cost type: Mp or Aura_**

 ** _Cost: Depending on complexity, uses mana or aura over time to keep spell 'alive'_**

 ** _Possible elements: Lightning, ? (Yet to be unlocked)_**

The Beast roared in pain as a result of the piercing lance of crackling blue lightning that was currently lodged deep into its back, several smaller streaks of electricity ejected from the top of the lance and moved to form a makeshift cage of pure energy. The Grimm writhed about in an attempt to snap the solid bolt of lightning. Though the lance was managing to hold the Ursa, it's strength was clearly fading.

The brunette took a second to look at his mana...'i'm still at 30 mana?...Is the storm actually on my side?'

Ignoring those thoughts, Leo focused and managed to pour his remaining mana into the storm above. Dozens of bolts of electricity shot towards him, eventually forming a bristling greatsword out of crackling lightning. Something strange about it was that Leo actually recognised the weapon from one of his favourite games. 'wait a sec...is this the Fume ultra-greatsword from Dark Souls 3?! Except it's made out of lightning...'

The blonde raised the massive blade with ease, as the fact that it was made entirely out of energy made it weightless, resting it over his shoulder as the Ursa finally destroyed its temporary prison. The beast reared itself onto its hind legs before emitting a blood-curdling roar that would've chilled any sane person to the bone. Luckily, Leo had gotten to the point where he was actually questioning his sanity as a result of the pure level of absurdness that came with travelling dimensions into another plane of existence.

Leo gave a hearty war cry as the ursa bolted towards him, it evidently expected to get struck by lightning again as it's gaze shot to the skies everytime the crack of thunder pierced its ears. As the ursa got close, it attempted to slash at the boy with its right paw. In response, the greatsword-wielding warrior hurled his body to the left, landing near it's right foot before swinging at the ursa's side with as much force as he could muster. 'perfect, the blade is just long enough to cleave it in half...please cleave it in half...'

The weapon didn't exactly cut through the beast's flesh, not like a regular sword would, that is. The lightning crackled through the wound and simply seemed to remove whatever it touched from existence, this left a thick line of nothingness that travelled from the Grimm's right hip all the way up to its left shoulder.

Silence filled the clearing as Leo turned to face what was left of his opponent, 'I reaally expected for an ursa this big to put up a bigger fight...' Leo dispelled his unnecessarily large sword, which was actually more like a heavy lump with a sharpened, curved tip, as it had quickly mulched through his mana and had now started to devour his aura as if it were a light snack.

 ** _HP: 200/200_**

 ** _MP: 0/100_**

 ** _Aura Level: 10%_**

He had just one-shot the biggest Ursa he had ever seen! okay, the thunderstorm helped alot but they never even showed an ursa that big in the show, 'unless rooster teeth had planned show some after volume 5, that is.' plus, he killed a Beringel earlier! That took Ruby Rose ages to beat in her volume 4 trailer, 'but it only took a weakened Cinder a flick of her wrist...'

"this better get me into some cool kids club" He muttered as he began his trek back to safety, dismissing the various pop-ups that showed his stat increases from that bout.

 ** _*You have defeated Castillo, The Great Bear!_**

 ** _You gained: 5000EXP, A tiny speck of self respect._**

 **'oh fuck off! "you gained some self respect"...cunt _'_**

 ** _Elemental Focus has Levelled up to Level 3!_**

 ** _You levelled up!_**

 ** _You got +5 Stat Point!_**

 ** _You got +1 INT!_**

 ** _You got +1 WIS!_**

 ** _You got +1 STR!_**

 ** _You got +1 INT!_**

 ** _You got +1 WIS!_**

 ** _You got +1 END!_**

 ** _You got +1 INT!_**

'hell yeah! I've got more MP now! i'm at 0/120...i don't get max mana when i level up? damn. I should probably save my spare stat points for when i really need them.'

-10 minutes Later:

Upon making it to the cliffs, Leo realised that he was standing where teams RWBY and JNPR had fought the nevermore/deathstalker combo. The downside to this is that the ruins were still...well, they were completely ruined, leaving the disgruntled brunette with no way across. "yeah, i don't think i can make that jump...unless"

Leo checked his HUD to see that he now had fully replenished his MP, thanks to his title of 'outsider' which told him that it had given him 1 hour of increased mana regen, back when he checked it in Ozpins office.

 ** _HP: 200/200_**

 ** _MP: 120/120_**

 ** _Aura levels: 30%_**

 ** _Title: The Outsider_**

 ** _You hold knowledge that is unknowable (events of RWBY)_**

 ** _Increased EXP gains by 200% for: indefinite. Massive boost to Mp regen for: 7 minutes_**

'thank you, the outsider. now...how do i super jump...?' Leo wondered as he leant up against a stone pillar, which was on the side of the bridge where JNPR had battled an ancient deathstalker.

'wait a sec...' The towering teenager focused his mana and aura onto the ground beneath him, forcing the earth to bend to his will. Much to his enjoyment, he thrust his arms forward and a raw pillar of stone and dirt jutted out of the ground beneath him, launching him across onto the opposite side of the cliff before the stone sank back into the ground. 'okay...but that just used up all of my mana, and i still have to land...fuck'

as Leo shot through the air like a bullet, a popup appeared in front of him, 'this really isn't a good time semblance!...huh, interesting...'

 ** _*you have used a new element for an existing spell through practice!_**

 ** _Creating or evolving a spell through practice requires less of the stats that it would if you were to simply think of a spell or read it from a skill book. Though it does require massive amounts of MP and is potentially dangerous._**

 ** _E.g: a spell from a book that requires 100 INT can potentially be created with only 50 INT through the use of trial and error, and by throwing mana into it, through trial and error can lead to horrible consequences if your attempts fail._**

 ** _Elemental Focus! (level 3)_**

 ** _Focus your energy on the world around you to use the elements to assist you in combat._**

 ** _Cost type: Mp or Aura_**

 ** _Cost: Dependant on complexity, uses mana or aura over time to keep spell 'alive'_**

 ** _Possible elements: Lightning, Earth, ? (Yet to be unlocked)_**

'huh...now i have to land...i do have 30% aura...maybe i can just...crash?' Leo thought to himself as he began rocketing down towards what was hopefully soft earth.

and crash he did.

After peeling himself off of the ground, which had actually been rather soft, Leo stood up and jumped back in shock, almost falling off of the cliff in the process. "AH! Don't do that!" The brunette shouted at the headmaster, who was standing right infront of him. He had just arrived on a bullhead, hopefully in order to pick him up.

the Professor simply smiled, "Apologies. Now, you have made it back to the cliffs, may I see your relic?"

Leo nodded after regaining his composure and handed over his light king piece to the headmaster. "Here you go."

Ozpin inspected the piece for a moment before handing it off to Glynda, who had just walked over from the bullhead, the green-eyed deputy almost smiled at him, progress..."congratulations, Mr Helios. You have completed the initiation for Beacon academy with surprising results...though we don't know how an Ursa of that size or a beringel got there...i had thought peter and bart had cleared all of the most dangerous grimm out..." Glynda muttered her last two statements more to herself than anyone else but Leo decided to shrug in response.

no, Leo didn't care that about the high-level grimm. Only one question was on his mind right now..."ahh, its fine. soooooo, am I going to be getting a ride back, or do I have to walk?"

Glynda glared at him for half a moment before her gaze almost seemed to soften. Even more progress, she may not make his life a living hell..."You will be riding in the back of the bullhead. Now come along, Mr Helios."

And with that, both professors and a slightly exhausted Leo made their way over to the bullhead and back to campus. 'I bet classes would've ended ages ago, by now.'

Once they had landed back at Beacon, Ozpin handed the new student a scroll, "considering that there wasn't a scroll amongst your belongings and you do not seem to have one on you, I have taken the liberty of getting you a scroll of your own."

Leo gingerly took the device and placed it in his pocket, he would have to figure out how to use it later. "thank you, sir."

"also, your locker number is...number 637, do try to remember it. Use the GPS on your scroll to find your way to your dorm, enjoy the rest of your day, Mr Helios." And with that, both the headmaster and his deputy strolled off, leaving Leo to fend for himself.

"great...now i just have to figure out how to use this thing." Leo muttered to himself as he strolled off in search of a place to sit.

Eventually, the brown-haired earthling made his way to a wooden bench that sat under a large oak tree. as Leo struggled to set up his scroll, he eventually noticed a guitar that was resting against the side of the bench... It was labelled 'Jaune Arc'.

Setting the infernal contraption that was his scroll down, Leo looked around for any blue-eyed scraggly blondes that may have lost a guitar. Seeing none, he picked up the guitar himself and decided to play. He hadn't played the guitar for a few months so it took a bit to shake off any rust that he had gathered, but eventually, his skills came back to him.

Despite what he had expected from Jaune, the guitar had been tuned perfectly for what Leo wanted to play. 'why is it that i can never remember the name of lyrics of this bloody song?!' he thought to himself as the strings of the instrument rang out through the courtyard in a melodic, calming tune that actually managed to soothe his nerves.

Looking back to his scroll, then back to the guitar, an idea suddenly sprung into Leo's mind, 'if i take this back to Jaune, maybe i can get closer to team JNPR...or maybe not...ah fuck it, i may as well.' And with that, the brunette once again attempted to set up his scroll.

*Almost an hour later: 5 PM

After setting up his scroll and figuring out its basic functions, Leo, who had decided to deliver Jaunes guitar to him next time the two met, made his way to the locker rooms, where his schoolbag was supposedly held.

In the locker rooms, Leo eventually found his locker and retrieved his schoolbag before heading off in the direction of his dorm.

Rather conveniently, Leo's single-person dorm was right next to team JNPR's one, with team RWBY's dorm across from them. 'huh...neat' But there was a slight issue, 'it was at this time...that i realised i'm insanely close to being as tall as the doorframe...'

Inside Leo's dorm, there was a single bed off to the right of the window, but aside from that, it looked like any other basic dorm does in Beacon. He placed his bag by his bed and headed over to team JNPR's dorm to give Jaunes guitar back. 'okay...just knock...HOW CAN I BE NERVOUS RIGHT NOW?! I'M A 7"1 GUYWHO'S BUILT LIKE A FUCKING TANK! okay...just play it cool...cool'

A few knocks that were accidentally too loud later and Leo was listening to the sounds of footsteps heading closer. He also heard a door behind him creak open then quickly shut. Team JNPR's door swung open and Leo could've sworn he heard a slight "eep" from the blonde leader, who was the one who answered the door. "Hello. Jaune, right?"

the blonde was torn from his shell-shocked state, drawing his eyes to the simple guitar that rested in the taller man's grasp, "uh, y-yeah?"

Leo managed to hold a stoic look as he raised the guitar and handed it to the terrified knight, "You left this in the courtyard."

The knight began to stutter a 'thank you', but he was swiftly interrupted by a certain Valkyrie. "YOUR THE THUNDER GUY!"

This comment managed to surprise Leo slightly as he sidestepped a 'nora missile', who had essentially hurled herself at him. As she crashed through the door on the other side on the other side of the hallway, three female faces peered out of their dorm. These were the faces of Blake, Yang and a slightly disgruntled ruby, though Weiss was nowhere in sight. "sorry, but... did you just say thunder guy?"

Much to team RBY's annoyance, Nora stood up with a bubbly grin on her face, completely oblivious to the fact that she had just demolished their door. "Yep! you were late to initiation, huh?"

oh shit, gotta think of a cover story quick! "yeah, I got...held up, for a bit." there, that should sell the whole badass act, right?

And sell it did...to most, that is. the Valkyrie 'oooo'ed at his 'reason', while a certain Brawler didn't buy it, for whatever reason. "what could hold you up?"

"eh, y'know, just a village with a grimm problem." though his voice was calm and composed, his thoughts were something like this: 'i am so not able to think of a proper excuse. What if my excuse conflicts with what my transcripts say or something? Also, what episode would i be in right now? i mean, Weiss isn't here and Ruby looks a tad distracted, so i'm probably at the badge and the burden bit...right?'

His response only served to draw a few words from the resident valkyrie of team JNPR, "Ooooo, a grimm problem? Can you share the story pleeeease?"

"heh, sure. Long story short, this village wanted me to go and kill this ancient deathstalker that had been getting more active recently, right?" The brunette began.

Though his story was swiftly interrupted by a cheap red riding hood knockoff "By yourself!?"

Both teams seemed pretty shocked at the prospect of someone fighting a deathstalker by themselves, 'sweet, i can exaggerate my skills a bit until i can get better'

"yeah. Anyways, I had it in this clearing, but it was a tad quicker than i thought it would be. Long story short, i killed it but i ended up with a shattered weapon and a couple of broken bones. I staggered back to the village and they let me stay there to heal for a bit before i left."

Leo looked down at a set of popups that appeared for a moment before looking back at the group.

 ** _You got 1 Cha point!_**

 ** _You got 1 Cha point!_**

 ** _You got 1 Cha point!_**

Both teams RBY and JNPR seemed pretty stunned by what he had just said, though a certain blonde brawler seemed like she was about to question him. "Hold up a sec. We all saw your initiation today, you were a total badass! How did a deathstalker manage to beat you up when you took down a beringel and the biggest ursa i've ever seen like they were nothing?"

"Huh?" oh, right. He was a total badass during initiation... "Oh, yeah. Well, i actually ended up unlocking my semblance during my fight with the deathstalker. My weapon and aura were both gone at that point but then i just kinda...y'know..."

A particular confused Valkyrie tilted her head at his story, "Know what? what did you do to it?"

'oh hell yeah! now i can look even more badass!'

"Right, well. I grabbed a shard of my broken lance, got in close and stabbed it in the eye...then I just...Kind of exploded it with lightning." Leo explained.

At the mention of a lance, the small red riding hood knockoff suddenly perked up a bit, "You use a lance? Did it do anything?!" She seemed really excited at the prospect of hearing about new weapons.

oh shit, i didn't plan for this! Okay, just look at my body type...Tall and massive...what did Yatsuhashi from team CVFY use?... Oh, a giant fucking sword, right.

"Yeah! it could shift into this massive greatsword that could split an ursa in half like it was nothing! It kinda looked more like a simple lump of steel rather than an actual sword, but it was the first weapon I ever made, sooo. Anyways, it used gravity dust to increase its weight and speed, while the lance form could have the speed of its thrusts increased by the grav dust...it was sooo awesome. The one i made out of lightning to kill that ursa looked pretty similar to it, in fact. Hey, does this school have a forge?"

'I know this weapon is a lie and all, but i really want to make it now. Actually no, that'd be stupid...or would it?'

The very idea of his weapon, though simple, left the tiny reaper with stars in her eyes...almost quite literally. "Y-Yeah! the forge looks sooo awesome, you'd love it! that is, if you like that kinda thing with making new weapons and doingmodificationstothemandmakingthemlookreallycooland..." It was at this point that Leo's ears couldn't physically keep up with what she was saying.

Luckily, a certain brawler came to his rescue, "Hey sis?"

"ANDTHENYOUCOULD, Yeah yang?"

"You're doing the thing again..." ruby stopped for a moment before her face began to go red from embarrassment.

"Anyways, I'm Yang, and this is my sister Ruby" Yang swung her arm around her embarrassed sister, "Whats yours, sparks?"

"Sparks? pfft, anyways, my name's Leo, Leo Helios." He replied as he shot a quick glance at Jaune, 'He doesn't look all depressed like how he did during the whole Jaundice bit of volume 1, so I've gotta be somewhere around episode 9 or 10. Meaning that Weiss and Ruby are still in the i don't like you mode...well, Weiss is at least.'

"Aaaand this, is my partner, Blake" The amber eyes of the secret faunus locked onto the warm fiery orbs that were Leo's eyes, the two nodded to each other and that was that. Leo turned to the four members of team JNPR. Luckily Jaune understood that he was expecting an introduction and smiled, "I'm Jaune, Jaune arc, and this is my partner, Pyrrha."

The redhead in question stepped forward and extended her hand "It's a pleasure to meet you, Leo."

As the two shook hands, Leo nodded in response, "Nice to meet ya too, Pyyrha."

Turning to the green-robed monk and the Valkyrie who seemed like speedy Gonzales on crack cocaine, the two introduced themselves as "Lie Ren" and "Nora Valkyrie!"

"Nice to meet you both..." Leo looked at his scroll, which told him that the time was 5:13. "Well, its certainly been good to meet you all. Now, if you all would excuse me, im gonna go work on my semblance for a bit, Seeya." And with that, Leo walked off to his dorm, which, much to everyone's slight surprise, was right next to team JNPR's dorm.

As the brunette shut his door, 'okay...time to get to fuckin work.' Leo flopped down onto his bed and stared at his stats for a moment. 'damn, I got that many points just from initiation?'

 ** _Leo Helios (level 13)_**

 ** _Semblance: 'g'ods Gift (The 'gamer')_**

 ** _Age 17_**

 ** _Gender: Male_**

 ** _Height: 7"1_**

 ** _HP: 200/200_**

 ** _MP: 120/120_**

 ** _Aura level: 100%_**

 ** _Unspent Stat points: 5_**

 ** _STR: 31_**

 ** _DEX: 15_**

 ** _END: 26_**

 ** _VIT: 20_**

 ** _INT: 19_**

 ** _WIS: 12_**

 ** _CHA: 18_**

'huh, time to figure all this shit out then, i guess.'

After two hours of looking through the various menus and skills that he possessed, Leo was most pleased to find that his 'instrumental' 'singing' and 'dancing' skills perfectly reflected how they were back on earth. 'i didn't literally bear through the bullshit of singing practice every second thursday to not be able to sing over here.' Despite how Leo always appeared as the mischievous delinquent student who loved to party, most of his time was actually taken up with his various hobbies, most of which he kept as a closely guarded secret.

 ***P _assive skill: Sing song (Level 38)_**

 ** _You are adept at singing. While your voice isn't exactly that of an angel's, you can certainly sing a basic song perfectly._**

 ** _*Passive skill: Dance Dance (Level 57)_**

 ** _You are close to becoming the very definition of a master when it comes to the dance floor. You can perform many formal and informal dances, you can both lead and follow in slow dances with no difficulty._**

 ** _*Passive skill: The Piano Man (Level 70)_**

 ** _For your entire life,_** you ** _have been surrounded by your own melodies. You can play many instruments to the point of near mastery, if only your voice was that good..._**

'was that last one an insult? probably...'

Leo shot a glance at his scroll to see that the time was 7:15 PM. Upon further inspection of the filthy beast that was his scroll, he found that dinner was currently being served, though Leo quickly vetoed his own idea of having dinner as he simply wasn't hungry. Instead, Leo continued to search through the menus of his semblance, eventually coming across a certain skill.

 ** _Toggleable passive Skill:_**

 ** _The Mind, The Body and The Soul: (Level MAX)_**

 ** _Grants immunity to: Mental effects (such as intense emotions or mental attacks), Aura-related debuffs (such as ?) and physical debuffs (pain and illness, amongst others)_**

 _'huh...I can toggle it...Is it bad that i'm actually curious as to what i would feel if i turned it off?...probably. Though I hate feeling so calm all the time...this isn't me.'_

 ** _*Would you like to deactivate 'The Mind'? Y/N_**

The moment Leo hit the confirm button, the weight of what had just happened came crashing down upon him at once.

He had lost his entire life. He would never go back to his home and smell the sweet scent of fresh baking that his mother or little sister had made... He would never see his family again, and they would never see him again. What if the deity who sent him here simply erased all memory of him from earth? Does anyone even remember him? Do they even care?

He. Had. Nothing... **NOTHING**...

The usually confident teenager quickly devolved into a hyperventilating mess that was curled up under his blankets in a panic attack.

Minutes quickly turned into hours as Leo's panic attack only continued to escalate. Eventually, two hours later, he managed to calm himself down enough to shoot a glance at his scroll to look at the time '9: 30 PM...' Upon doing so, his gaze was drawn to his window. He looked out upon the new world that was his life from now on, and decided that he needed to go for a walk "yeah...A...walk should...it should help."

Heading out of his dorm, the brunette noticed a faint light emanating from under team RWBY's door, 'that's got to be ruby studying late. At least i know which episode im at, I suppose.'

As Leo made his way out into the courtyard and eventually to beacon's gardens, he sat down and, despite his best efforts to remain calm, quickly ended up resuming his panic attack. He had propped himself up on a bench with his knees against his chest and his head down, so no one could see his now tear-stained face if they walked past. 'everything...just...gone...'

Minutes passed and Leo's attention was suddenly drawn to a nearby presence. someone, or rather more specifically, a certain heiress had just sat on the bench next to him. "Ahem. Excuse me, I was wo-uh- Are you...Are you crying?"

Leo quickly moved his legs off of the bench so he was sitting normally and looked away from the person who had just sat next to him while trying to still his breathing. Safe to say, he wasn't doing all that well at it. "N-no, I'm...i'm not. Is there something you needed?"

The person in question who, despite how she was early on in the series actually sounded rather concerned for him, was Weiss Schnee. "Well, it certainly looks like your crying. Do you want to tell me why?"

Leo Turned his head and locked eyes with the heiress in question. "Well, i-it's a pretty boring reason. So t-there's no need to concern yourself with it."

Weiss shook her head, "I beg to differ. Besides, I have a problem i'd like to tell someone about, myself, so...you tell me and I get to tell you….so...What happened?"

'what is this? she's actually being nice...why?'

Leo sighed before taking a deep, shaky breath. "Have you ever just...came to a realisation that... every. single. moment of your life is just...Gone? Realising that, within just a single day, a single moment...everything has just... completely changed? Knowing that you'll never see anyone you ever knew again? Never see your family again? Not even knowing if they even remember you?" At this point, the brunette crossed his arms over his knees and slouched forward before breaking down.

The heiress sat in shock for a moment, 'what is this guy going through?' before shuffling closer and tentatively placing a hand on his shoulder. Leo looked to his right and stared into the girl's icy eyes. "Hey. I don't know what you're going through, but i know that...that you'll be fine. I'm certain that your family, at the very least, remembers you. So, even if you...never see them again, just know that they will always remember you. Okay?" Though Weiss's words seemed genuine, her thoughts were something more like this. 'I'm really not good with people...or inspirational stuff...hopefully this helps.'

Leo took a few shaky breaths before leaning back on the bench, his thoughts had somewhat calmed now. Apparently, just ranting about his problems and fears to a complete stranger actually does help. "t-thanks...i'm...i'm good now...Thank you, u-umm...?"

Weiss seemed pretty shocked that he didn't immediately recognise her, even though he technically did. "Schnee. Weiss Schnee, and you are?"

The towering dark-haired brunette gazed at Weiss for a moment before responding. "L-Leo. M-my name is Leo He-Helios."

Weiss seemed like she already knew that. Probably not surprising, considering she had more than likely learned what his name was when she watched his initiation. "well... Leo. I watched your initiation, and I must say, you are rather powerful."

Leo, having calmed down from simply being near someone, decided to skip the part where he continues to rant about his problems and instead ask what was bothering Weiss, because she had mentioned having a problem of her own and he knew that today was the day that she had argued with ruby and said that her becoming the leader was a mistake. "Thanks. So, what's got you frustrated?"

The heiress seemed quite taken aback by his question, "i'm sorry, what?"

The tiny beginnings of a grin managed to find its way onto Leo's tear-stained face. "You heard me. said it yourself: You have a problem of your own. Plus, You seem like something's bothering you, and considering how a girl i met earlier, called Ruby, seemed pretty distressed about something to do with her partner, who was also called Weiss, what a coincidence. I'd assume you two had an argument?"

The white-haired girl stared at him in shock for a moment before slumping back against the bench in defeat and looking to the sky. "ugh, something like that. To put it simply, I...I didn't think she was being a good leader and... i ended up snapping at her. I later realised that, since it's only been a day, that she still needs to actually learn how to lead...I was being pretty selfish."

The two simply sat there for a moment, with neither side speaking. "Hey..." Weiss looked over to Leo in response. The male in question began to chuckle slightly, though it was sounded hollow and empty. "at least you've got a team...Since i was late to Beacon, I don't even get one."

"W-what?! You don't have a team?"

"Nope. But... that's besides the point, what are you gonna do about your problem, Weiss? Apologise? Because, sorry if this seems a bit rude, but you seem more like a... prideful person who wouldn't generally say sorry, am I right?"

Weiss shot him an aggressive glare for a moment before her eyes widened, 'Did he just...!?...ugh, he...might be right...maybe.' Her gaze softened slightly. "Y-yeah, your right. But, she wasn't exactly in the right either! so, why should I even have to apologise to begin with?"

"Because you're a team," Leo replied simply. "You're her partner, whether you like that or not. So one of you should step up and either apologise or do something that pretty much says 'i'm sorry'... like, maybe... getting her a cup of coffee or something while she studies, that's a good one. Otherwise, you'll only grow more distant, and that ain't gonna help anyone."

The white-haired girl stared into space for a full minute before nodding slowly, "so, what if i were to say, 'i will become the best teammate that I can be' while giving her a coffee... like you suggest?"

The towering teen shrugged, "Depends. From what I could tell when I spoke with your leader, she seems... pretty anti-social, so she'd probably just be happy knowing that you don't hate her. Though showing that you've accepted that she's your leader is definitely the way to go."

The two simply sat in silence for a few minutes before Leo eventually stood up and reached out a hand to Weiss. "Thanks for the talk Weiss, I...I appreciate it."

Weiss stared at his extended hand for a moment before smiling slightly and shaking his hand before using him to help her stand up. "Of course. And...thank you, also."

"No problem." Leo checked his scroll. The time was 10:15 PM. "If you don't mind, i'm gonna head off to my room and go to bed now."

The heiress simply nodded in response, "Of course."

And with that, the two parted ways. Leo didn't feel as bad as he did before while Weiss knew how she could make it up to Ruby for her outburst.

As Leo made his way back to his dorm, he was scrolling through his menus when he realised that 'The Mind' had changed somewhat.

 ** _*The Mind (Level: MAX)_**

 ** _Provides immunity to all negative mental effects. Can also suppress extreme emotions and negative thoughts (Optional)_**

 ** _"combat mode" Doesn't suppress thoughts or emotions but blocks any mental attacks. Also stops the user from going insane._**

 ** _*Activate The Mind?_**

 ** _*Yes *Activate Combat mode *No_**

'huh, that's nice...I guess. I don't want to feel like this...but, I really don't want to just be calm all of the time, it feels far too weird for my liking.' Leo thought to himself as he hit the button for 'combat mode'.

A hollow grin managed to find its way onto Leo's face as he opened his dorm's door, though it was quickly snuffed out when the brunette slammed face-first onto his bed and promptly fell asleep. He even managed to forget about closing his door, which a certain heiress silently closed for him as she walked past with a cup of coffee in hand.


	2. Chapter 2: The Calm and the Storm

**Sorry about how I haven't put a gap inbetween regular stuff and the stats, but the website despises me and so, the command for it does about as much as a paper mache floodgate would.**

 **This is the re-written version of Ch.2. The only real difference is the exchane between Ancius, the deity guy who sent him to Remnant, along with some other minor stuff.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **In Leo's Dreams:**

Leo sat up to find himself in the void where he met the old god, that damned deity who sent him to the world of Remnant in the first place. Though the deity wasn't currently present, Leo could tell he was somewhere nearby.

Standing up, Leo turned around to see an empty marble throne, it looked as if it was a part of the ground. As he began to wonder things about the god, such as how old he was, what was his name and what has he done for his time as a god, because it wouldn't just be sitting in that uncomfortable-looking chair...right?

A familiar voice resonated from behind him after a few moments, comfirming his thoughts.

"Well, I can certainly tell you the last one, though the tale of my existence is quite a...well... it's quite a boring one, to say the very least. Also, don't diss my chair."

Leo opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. For some unknown reason, he felt a sudden urge to demand his old life back, to be given a specific purpose in this new world, aside from 'change its predetermined fate'...anything, really.

More than anything though, he wanted to know what was happening back in his old life.

The old god could evidently read his thoughts as he simply sighed. "Listen, m'boy. You are a necessity for this world, you have both the power to save it from what would otherwise be it's predetermined fate and the power to accelerate said fate. You cannot go back to your world. your family does remember you, but they are under the assumption that you have died. They will mourn and eventually get over it, as you will."

Leo stared at his own feet as he pondered these words.

While this logically wasn't the worst possible scenario for him, it certainly felt like it couldn't get any worse. He could never go back, they thought he was dead.

Well, in their eyes...he kinda was.

"Leo Helios. You cannot, and simply will not get your old life back. So instead, what will you do?"

An eternity passed as Leo thought in silence. Eventually, he opened his mouth and a few hollow words echoed throughout the void. "I'm gonna do whatever the fuck I damn well please. If my life back home is gone...then...I'll just have to..." His eyes began to water as he struggled to get the words out. "Just...make a new one here..."

His response actually managed to surprise the god, who quickly regained his composure and smiled at the boy before him. "Well...I actually wasn't sure that I had chosen the right person to save this world, but now...I know I chose correctly. I recommend that you only let others see you use lightning from now on, as well. You know as well as I do that a select few individuals will hunt you down if they find out how powerful you are. So, to make your life just a tad easier, here is a gift, from a simple god, with a little 'g', to the future Guardian of Remnant."

 _*You have been gifted a set of spells and stats from **Ancius:** 'The "g"od' (Level ?̴̢̛͎̦̪̼͕̠̗̟̗̺̼̭̦͚̙͖̘̣̱̆̾͂̅̾̀͊́̓̆̇̋̍͗̆͌̕͜͝͝͝?̷̛͓̜̪̥̪͌͑̋̽̎̓͊͋̽̅͌̊͋̐͋̕͜?̵̛̬̰̩̜̩̥̈́̓̈͂̈̒̎̈́͂̿͆͑͆̋͒̅̒?̸̨̢͉̩͚̯̼̣̥̝͕̺̣̐̈́̅̒̐̓?̵͓̺̯̩̝͕̪͎̺͉̯̹̪̜̺͊͌͊̋͛̆̐̑̋̚̕?̴̺̭̣͖̃̑̒̈́̓̉͌̽̄͂́̔͆̐̈̈́̃̕̕̚͘͜?̴̖̬͊͊̊̈?̷̧̢̖̗̻̪̦̰͇̤͙͚̘͚̝̜̦̬̫̈́͛͊̂͗̋̕͠)!_

 _You got **Sparks**!_

 _You got **Lightning Bolt**!_

 _You got **Electromancy**!_

 _You got **StormTrance**_

 _You gained **10INT!**_

 _You gained **10WIS**!_

 _*Due to these sudden stat gains, you have developed ' **Hero Complex** '_

Upon realising what he had just done, the god scratched the back of his head, "Oooooo, Hero complex...I kinda forgot about that...I suppose it isn't that bad."

 _ ***Sparks** (Level 1) (Same as sparks from Skyrim)_

 _Elemental spell_

 _Shock and kill your opponents with this constant stream of numbing electricity!_

 _Cost: 18MP/Sec_

 _ ***Lightning bolt** (Level 1) (same as the one from Skyrim)_

 _Elemental spell_

 _Cast a powerful bolt of lightning that can vaporise smaller targets instantly_

 _Cost: 60MP_

 _ ***Electromancy** (Level MAX)_

 _Elemental Spell_

 _Absorb Electricity to regenerate both your mana and aura at an insanely fast rate._

 _Temporarily disables all Elemental attacks that aren't Lightning_

 _Cost: N/A_

 _ ***StormTrance** (Level 1) *(Think of a mix of Thor when he activates his lightning stuff the end of Thor: Ragnarok and the Stormtrance super from destiny, namely the teleporting that a Stormtrance can do.)*_

 _In your times of need, call upon the unstoppable power of the Storm to obliterate your enemies!_

 _Grants two passive spells: Sixth Sense (Sense Aura), Eyes of the storm (Glowing Eyes that grant 1.5x reaction times.)._

 _Lightning-related spells temporarily cost no mana and gain a massive power boost for as long as Stormtrance is active._

 _Level-ups with StormTrance grant extra abilities while using this spell._

 _Requires: a Sudden intense spike in rage or hatred are the most effective in bringing about this ability._

 _Cost: Requires Large amounts of either: Emotions, Mana or Aura_

 _ ***Hero's complex** (Level N/A)_

 _Passive Behavioural Effect_

 _You have the power to save others, so. you... WILL!_

 _Passive effects:_

 _You despise seeing the subjugation or belittlement of others more than usual, eventually leaving you completely unable to act._

 _You will risk everything to save or even simply help another from all harm. Be it mental or physical._

 _Refusing to answer the call of a hero will result in the feeling simply coming back thrice as strongly next time a situation arises._

 _Active effects:_

 _In the likely event that you save someone and are instead placed in harms way yourself, your HP will regenerate 500% faster for 1 minute. Your aura regen rate will be doubled for one minute._

 _Allows you to more easily cast spells that require intense emotions when you have the urge to also protect another_

Leo looked up from his popups at the old god, "There, that should allow you to use some of your new spells. I would still recommend training other spells that aren't lightning, just for when that particular group inevitably finds out...Hero's complex should help you keep others alive, but be sure to maybe make a healing spell for yourself or something..."

"Right..."

The god, Ancius, stood there for a few moments tapping away at his leg, seemingly in thought. After a few moments his eyes widened in realisation. "... Also!... I would like to apologise to you, Leo. I...I didn't expect that such a sudden change would to that to you, make you have a panic attack, that is. Though, I now realise just what it was that caused that...I was the cause. So, I am truly sorry." The man's words were genuine, Leo had no doubt about that.

"...It's...it's fine. As you said, my family thinks I'm dead...and to them, my parents have lost their son. That hurts, But...they'll get over it. And so will I..." His voice was no longer that of someone who was broken by his lost past and afraid of the unknown and terrifying future before him. It was that of someone who was determined to do what they could.

The god once again looked surprised for a moment before nodding slowly, "I'm glad I made the right choice Leo. It'll probably be a while before we talk again, so... good luck."

And with that, Leo's dream slowly faded as he awoke.

 **5:30 AM: Leo's room. A few weeks later**

Since that dream, Leo had been going out and training with his new spells early on in the mornings in the emerald forest or the sparring arena. He had also learnt a fair bit about Remnants history and other necessary things in that time. Such as how to write, he got onto team CRDL's radar for being picked on when they realised that he couldn't read or write the language of Remnant.

Leo rolled over onto his back and stared at the roof for a moment, 'I'd better check out my stats...just to see how I've actually improved...'

 _Leo Helios (level **20** )_

 _Semblance: 'g'ods Gift (The 'gamer')_

 _Age 17_

 _Gender: Male_

 _Height: 7"3_

 _ **HP** : 210/210_

 _ **MP** : 480/480_

 _ **Aura level** : 100%_

 _ **Unspent Stat points** : 40_

 **STR** _ **:** 31_

 **DEX:** _23_

 _ **END:** 25_

 **VIT:** _21_

 **INT:** _39_

 **WIS:** _48_

 **CHA:** _19_

He had saved all of his points that he has gotten from 'level-ups' and spent nearly all of his time studying or meditating in order to level his WIS and INT stats to raise both his maximum MP and his spell damage.

'I wonder if I could find some type of character editor? Being 7"3 is a bitch at times...' Leo thought to himself for a few moments. 'Wait...that's stupid. There's no way there would be one. Oh well'

"damn, I haven't been levelling my Charisma much...then again, I haven't...really talked with anyone much...except for Jaune, who I've talked with for a bit. Weiss, who taught me to read this bullshit language and Yang with teasing back and forth a few times, that is."

The brunette hopped out of bed and located his Beacon uniform, checking the time on his scroll, he decided to go for a run to get himself ready for the day. 'I shouldn't wear my uniform when i go for this run. I've still got plenty of time before classes but I don't wanna walk in covered in sweat...that'd be horrible.'

Leo made his way out of the dorms, went for a quick run around campus before making his way to the one place where he could train his 'Beacon' semblance.

Upon entering the sparring room, Leo was rather surprised to see that one of the people who he could confidently call a friend was awake at this hour. Jaune Arc was currently in a duel with one of Beacon's training bots. The bots could be set at varying difficulties, such as: Pitifully easy, Very easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, Very hard, Impossible, Unstoppable, Lethal and Godly, which came with a small plaque next to it. (Warning! Godly level bots can deplete weaker auras in a single strike). Upon further inspection of a terminal down near the arena entrance, the single bot that the knight was battling was set to: Very easy and was using a heavy mace in one hand.

'Ah, he's training to fight someone like Cardin...nice!'

Despite this, Jaune seemed to barely equal his robotic opponent in combat. Every move he made would be considered amateur if he was lucky. 'It's a wonder that Glynda didn't kick him out the moment she laid eyes on him.'

The robot and the knight duelled until Jaune got tired and shut it off with a push of a button. As he turned to exit the arena, the knight noticed a rather familiar person leant up against the side of the entrance. "O-oh, Hey...Leo." Despite the fact that the two had talked quite a few times within the past weeks, Jaune still seemed a tad intimidated by Leo. 'fair enough, though...'

"Heya. What're you doing up so early? Can't sleep or something?" The brunette replied simply.

The blonde chuckled nervously, Making Leo almost call him out on how forced that laugh sounded. Everyone knew Cardin had been picking on him and Leo was going to tear the leader of team CRDL in half at this rate "Heh, something like that. A-anyways, the arena's all yours if you wanna have a go now."

"Alright, thanks." Pushing himself off the wall, Leo moved over to the terminal and started setting up his own duel. 'lets see...I bet I could beat a "Hard" level bot...right?'

The brunette pushed the 'confirm' button and made his way into the arena. From the spectator's zone, he heard Jaune ask a question. "Hey Leo, do you mind if I watch you train? So I can pick up a tip or two?"

Tiny crackles of lightning leapt in-between his fingers at random as the bot was deployed. "Knock yourself out."

After training for a while, Leo went off to get some breakfast with Jaune. The two entered the cafeteria together and parted ways as Leo wandered off to his own table in the corner of the room after piling his plate with an entire mountain of bacon.

As he finished breakfast, Leo's scroll buzzed, giving him an announcement to be at the auditorium by 11:30 AM. 'Is this where Jaune gets beaten up by Cardin and Glynda talks about the Vytal festival? If that's so, then that means...Cardin is going to bully Velvet at lunch...If he does, I think I might just snap.'

Leo was of course referring to how Cardin will eventually end up pulling at Velvet Scarlatina's ears, as they are currently at the 'Jaunedice' arc of volume 1. He didn't bother thinking about how he felt about the scene in question, though he has recently seen how the Faunus seem around humans.

They seem scared.

They are afraid, simply because of what they are.

If Cardin ends up pulling Velvets ears, Leo had no doubts that he would both stop Cardin (only partially because of hero's complex), and make sure that he NEVER does it again.

"Ahhh, yeah... I guess I was right about the whole 'Jaune getting beaten up easily' thing..." Leo muttered to himself as the buzzer sounded. He was getting really pissed off with Cardin at this point.

'I'm just...fuck it. If he so much as pushes someone over, I might just snap. This hero complex thing is really just bad anger management in this moment...actually, no. I've been managing myself rather well, if I do think so myself.'

Glynda stepped forward and essentially began to scold Jaune for being such a bad fighter, "Mr Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your scroll during combat..."

The deputy headmaster began explaining about the Vytal tournament, eventually dismissing everyone for lunch. 'huh, I wonder if I'll be allowed to enter the tournament by myself. I bet if I can prove that I can defeat a team by myself, then I should be allowed to...right?'

As Leo made his way through the lunchroom to get his meal, a rather familiar voice called out to him. "Hey, Sparks! Come sit with us!" The brunette turned and saw that the culprit of that nickname was none other than Yang.

He was quite taken aback for a moment, not once had any of them asked him to sit with him, but here Yang was, calling out to him directly and telling him to come and sit with them. "Sure, one sec." He replied as he went off to go grab his lunch, eventually making his way back to their table and after pulling up an extra bench to what would be the 'head' of the table, sat down in between the leaders of either team. It looked as if Leo were some towering king, and the two teams before him were his guests.

Nora soon began telling a story that, despite him hearing it multiple times during his times watching the show, left him with stars in his eyes. "We were surrounded by Ursaiiiii."

Despite how truly awesome the prospect of being surrounded by Ursai sounded to the aspiring lightning mage, Ren, the stoic person that he was, decided to make sure everyone knew the full story. "they were Beowolves."

"DOZENS OF EM!"

"two of them"

"But they were no match...and in the end, Ren and I took them dowwwn and made a bullhead full of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs." And with her side of the story told, Nora plopped herself back down on her seat with a light 'thump'.

"woooow..." Leo said quietly, more so to himself than anybody else.

Ren sighed and leaned forward slightly, "She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now..."

"Whaaaat?! It isn't just a dream Renny, we were really there! Look! Leo enjoyed my story, that means it must be real! Right Leo?"

Leo glanced at Ren for a moment before turning his gaze back to Nora. He decided to take the middle ground on this one. "Either that, or you're just great at telling stories."

After cracking a smile at Nora's smug expression, he looked around the table to see if everyone else was as enraptured by Nora's story as he was, only to see Jaune picking away at his food. 'Oh...right. The whole Cardin talk. I forgot about that, dammit Nora! why must your stories be so awesome?!'

Seeing as Pyrrha seemed a bit apprehensive in talking to her leader about his current state, Leo took the reins. "Hey, Jaune. You alright there buddy?"

It took a moment, but Jaune eventually looked up and noticed that Leo, Ruby and his own partner, Pyrrha were all looking at him with rather concerned looks on their faces. "Huh? Oh, yeah...Why?"

On the opposite side of the table from the blonde, Ruby began fidgeting with her hands. "It's just that you seem...a little...not...okay..."

Jaune looked around to see that now everyone's eyes were locked onto him. Even Blake had put her book down and was looking at him. "Guys, I'm fine. Seriously, look." Jaune did his best to put on a smile and laugh, but it was so obviously forced that Pyrrha and Ruby just began to look more distressed.

A familiar laugh managed to rise above the chatter of the cafeteria, the knight looked over to see that Cardin and his team were busy laughing at a rabbit Faunus.

Leo followed his gaze and immediately felt his blood run cold.

And as per usual, he also felt 'Hero's complex' kick in.

Though this time it felt different.

This time, he could tell that he wouldn't be able to ignore it, just as he had guessed earlier. 'He...he...he'd better stop, or I'm gonna FUCKING SNAP!'

"Jaune, Cardin has been picking on you since the first week of school..." Pyrrha began.

"U-who? Cardin Winchester? Na, he's just a jokester, he likes to play around...that's all. Me and him, we're buds." Jaune's voice slowly continued to sound muffled to Leo, as the sound of his own rushing blood began to drown out all other sound. His gaze was fixed on the members of team CRDL as they continued to harass and jeer at a rabbit Faunus.

The now-muffled voice of Ruby spoke up from Leo's right. He couldn't even see anything at this point except Cardin's team and the innocent Faunus. "...-bully..."

Words became distorted in Leo's brain as he gripped his knife and fork tighter, unconsciously bending the metal to the point of near-breaking. A few tiny blue sparks began to flicker about on his body, the fork in his hand beginning to heat up slightly as electricity webbed inbetween the tines.

Jaune once again spoke, though this time, Leo could barely hear him. "Please-he's Bullied me." was all he heard.

"BREAK HIS LEGS!"

"Gladly..." The Mage mumbled quietly, catching the attention of Blake for a moment, due to her enhanced hearing.

Leo tore his vision away from Cardin for a moment and looked at the knight as he spoke. Jaune's words were dripping with doubt and lies. Lies he was telling himself. "-It's fiine-"

'lies...'

*Observe has gained 3 levels! (now level 5)

Through practice, you have gained the ability to discern peoples emotions alongside the rest of this skill's effects. You can discern whether people are lying or not, to an extent.

Suddenly, a pained voice turned Leo's mind blank as he turned back to team CRDL, "Ow! That hurts!"

Laughter followed her cries. Cardin was pulling on one of the girl's rabbit ears whilst his team were howling with laughter.

Lightning crackled in-between Leo's fingers, running up the sleeves of his leather jacket where they continued to crackle about, his breaths turned slow and ragged. Ruby and Blake were the only ones who noticed this. What's more is that they also noticed his eyes, they weren't their usual dull orange, like a warm campfire, They were glowing a strange, light shade of blue that left little to the imagination in terms of what was about to happen. His irises flashed with streaks of white light occasionally, it was almost as if the flashes were lightning, and here he was, attempting to hold back an entire storm from erupting within his body. "Uuummm, guys..." The Red Reaper squeaked.

Pyrrha was next to notice what was about to happen. "Leo...calm down, you don't want to do anything rash. You might get expelled if you do, Cardin's father is in the Valean council."

"Please, stop." The Faunus's cries went unheard by all...except one.

"See? I told you they were real."

"What a freak!"

It was at this point that Leo snapped. Ignoring the fact that the top halves of his now-snapped and slightly scorched knife and fork had just flown across the table from the sheer amount of force he had been exerting on them, he calmly stood up, oblivious to the pleas of the others, who were 'advising' him to sit back down as he stalked over to Cardin.

Each footstep echoed in his mind. All he could hear was the sound of his new boots everytime they touched the floor, the relentless beating of his thumping heart, the jeering of team CRDL and the unheard pleas of an innocent girl.

The Monster in question turned and looked at Leo approaching, "Ah, and here's a second freak! Hey, I've been having trouble with this thing Oobleck gave me recently, think you could help me with the...readings!"

Leo waited for the snickering of CRDL to die down before speaking. "Let. Her. Go..." the brunette's voice was calm, yet his eyes, the eyes of a storm, continued to exhibit what would soon become, if unchecked, his pure, unbridled rage.

"Whaaat? You got a thing for flopsy here? No way, These animals need to know their pla-" His voice was cut short by Leo's grip on his bracers, which quickly surged with electricity. "AAH!" He let go of the Faunus for half a moment as he stood up. "You reeally shouldn't have done that...But for now..." Cardin stepped closer to the Faunus as she tried to back away, reached out and grabbed both of the girls ears in a vice grip. "I've got better thing's to do...Huh?"

Leo's hands went two ways. His left hand went to his right bracer, which was the arm that Cardin was holding onto the Faunus with, while the other reached out to firmly send him back into his seat the moment the electricity from his left hand forced Cardin's muscles to let go of the girl's ears.

The Faunus took a few steps back as Leo turned to her, his eyes faded back to their warm orange for a moment as a gentle smile graced his features. "Hey, if you want, you can go sit over there." Leo pointed his thumb behind him at team RWBY and JNPR's table. "They're nice people...Plus...that place is out of the splash zone..." He said that last part quietly to himself, but the girl's ears evidently picked it up, if her expression was anything to go by.

Leo turned back to team CRDL just in time to receive a right hook from Cardin.

Now, with the Faunus out of the way and his sights firmly set on the four huntsmen-in-training before him, Leo's form erupted with such force that three of the monsters in question, with Cardin managing to stand strong, were knocked back a few metres. Both his mana and Aura were emptied in an instant as he cast his most powerful spell for the first time. And while, it wasn't even close to being as close to the nearly-infinite power he held in his palm with the 'thunder god' spell, this spell's power was still certainly a sight to behold.

Fueled by his own rage towards Cardin, which was largely due to 'hero's complex' slowly increasing over the course of a few weeks, Leo had just cast his most powerful spell.

 **StormTrance.**

He turned back to the team before him and met Cardin's second punch with one of his own. While the burnt-haired bully's strength was usually more than his due to what appeared to be raw stats, Leo's strength was simply growing. Plus, a quick blast of lightning quickly sent the leader of CRDL skittering back until he tripped and fell back onto his seat.

The other three members had drawn their weapons by this point and decided to bum-rush the brunette without any form of co-ordination. Leo pointed his arms at two of them, sending deadly bolts of lightning their way. The Mage then conjured up a malicious-looking scythe out of blue electricity to deal with the last one. Grasping the hilt with both hands, Leo raised it high as his opponent foolishly continued to rush into what he now thought of as a 'kill-zone'. 'sky lark...' (*Imagine the corvian great scythe from Dark Souls 3...except blue*)

Sky raised his halberd up to skillfully parry the oncoming downward slash, only for the scythe to pass straight through his weapon, the tip the the scythe hooked around his back, eventually crushing him into the ground. Leo swiftly moved in close, raising his boot to crush his first target further into the ground. The sound of his boot making contact with his target's skull sounded like a crack of thunder as it echoed throughout the room, sending random sparks of electricity everywhere as Sky's aura shattered like a thin pane of glass. "Fragile."

Leo's voice crackled like lightning, every syllable was dripping with pure resentment and vitriol.

The brutish mage, who's body was now shrouded in a thin layer of lightning, lifted his boot off of Sky and, without any warning, disappeared before Cardin could land a right-handed swing with his mace. The scythe-wielding giant appeared behind his prey, bringing the scythe around in an attempt to cleave Cardin in half.

Cardin spun around and, having seen just how ineffective sky's attempt at blocking was, attempted to duck under the attack, only for it to be a feign. As Cardin realised that the attack had never come, he looked up just in time to be kicked back by a lightning-infused boot. "Gah!" The leader of team CRDL rolled back, eventually managing to turn his momentum to help himself up. Before he could even attempt to fight back against his opponent, Cardin was forced to try and hurl his body back in a poor attempt to stop the towering reaper's blade.

Needless to say, his hideously abysmal attempt at dodging failed. Cardin, due to his stature and heavy armour, was someone who either blocked an attack or simply didn't. The force of the scythe against his mid-section threw the fool a few metres to the left, where he eventually landed near team RWBY and JNPR's table.

At this point, Leo's eyes had now turned into glowing orbs of pure animosity that sent random bits of electricity about his body.

The blue reaper stalked over to his prey with his scythe held out to his side in a way so that Cardin could clearly see the entire blade. Kneeling down and placing his left hand over his target's face, Leo began pouring electricity straight into the student's brain, Though his aura was protecting Cardin from any damage, it wouldn't last forever...

Completely oblivious to mangled screams of Cardin and the horrified looks on his friends faces, the Towering scythe-wielder stayed like this for a moment, forcing more and more electricity from his fingertips directly into Cardin's skull, only stopping when he felt the beasts aura was close to breaking. "Slow..."

Leo didn't sound like himself, with every word, his voice began to sound more like the deep boom of thunder. His face, usually holding some expression or emotion was currently devoid of any of that.

Sensing a presence behind him, Leo stood up and turned to see Dove and Russell sprinting towards him with their weapons drawn.

Russell stopped running, crouched and quickly launched himself towards Leo in a spin attack, much like a Boarbatusk would. Before the attack could even come close to hitting, The Mage launched a devastating uppercut with his scythe. The hook of the blade caught the Thrush right under his ribcage, Halting his momentum so everyone could see the pained expression on his face before he was hurled through the roof, leaving him at the non-existent mercy of the thunderstorm that had been brewing overhead.

This left a single. Terrified. Bird as the last one standing against the storm. "Predictable..."

His words were barely registerable at this point.

He was a storm... And nothing can stop the unbridled power of a Thunderstorm...

You merely have to pray that it doesn't target you...

And in his personal opinion, while he certainly had nothing against those who followed some form of religion...Dove wasn't a religious man himself, so his experience in praying was...minimal, to say the least.

Dove was clearly the most skilled out of his team. So, seeing how easily his other three allies had been devastated, He tried firing a few shots from his gun blade, only for thin bolts of light to leap from the Mage's form and intercept most of the bullets before they could get close to the living thunderstorm. Though one got through and impacted into the left side of his face, easily ripping through his cheek.

*Skill: 'The Body' Has blocked a large amount of pain, HP is being consumed to heal the wound.*

"Ooookay..." Dove muttered under his breath as he watched the bullet hole in the side of his opponent's face heal in mere moments, Leo didn't even look fazed in the slightest by the fact that he had just been shot.

Considering his ranged attacks had no effect, Dove edged forward cautiously, clearly having seen his opponents superior strength in action multiple times. 'That's fine though. I've got the speed advantage...I think. And my reflexes are probably the best in the whole school. I just need to-DODGE!'

Without warning, Leo flicked his wrist, sending the scythe hurling towards his final target.

While Dove managed to sidestep the attack with ease and grace, he soon realised that he had no chance of dodging nor blocking the heavy sweeping attack that was now headed for his midsection, in the form of a massively oversized Battle-axe. Which, despite being constructed entirely out of lightning, appeared to be heavier than what it would be if it were made out of steel.

The attack stuck true, hurling the tiny Dove across the cafeteria in an instant, where his unconscious body rocketed into one of the many stone pillars. "WEAK...!"

Despite the roar of thunder that followed his words closely, everybody in the cafeteria heard what Leo had said.

Everything was silent. Nobody had either dared or bothered to stand up to Cardin's team like that.

Leo turned around and stood over the fallen leader of team CRDL. The person in question had managed to stay conscious and was currently propped up against the edge of the table, even through the concentrated burst of lightning that left his aura in shambles. Cardin looked up at the physical embodiment of the storm that raged overhead with nothing but abstract terror in his eyes. " **YOU**. **ARE**. **_WEAK...!_** " The towering battle-mage dispelled his axe, instead swapping it out for a long, almost needle-like javelin.

Before anybody could even move an inch, said javelin had already left Leo's hand and impaled itself in the tiled ground just to the left of Cardin's hip.

The Mage knelt down next to him on one knee. "...And don't you ever forget that..." Leo's voice was barely more than a soft whisper at this point, but he knew that Cardin had heard him.

Getting up and turning on his heel, Leo made to stroll out of the cafeteria when he was suddenly lifted up by a strange purple light. Despite the constant attempt of the light trying to restrict his movements, all it managed to accomplish was levitating him a few feet off of the ground.

With the main offender of the battle held in the grasp of her semblance, Glynda Goodwich turned her attention to the improvised battlefield that had been absolutely devastated. As if right on cue, a certain unconscious 'Thrush' fell from a hole in the roof, his hair and clothing had been utterly scorched by the lightning from the storm above.

Turning her attention back onto the towering form of Leo, she froze as the two made eye contact. Within the white orbs that had taken place over his eyes, she saw a pure, unbridled wrath that nothing she had ever encountered could even hope to muster. The mage's gaze held so much animosity towards her in that single moment that she actually lost focus of her semblance and dropped him onto the ground, where he landed safely on his feet.

"Mr He-Helios. I demand that you cease all use of your semblance in the cafeteria this instant!" Despite her stutter, Glynda managed to hold her usual confidence that would easily strike fear into the hearts of anyone.

Though Leo didn't even seem the slightest bit intimidated by her, he simply looked back to each member of team CRDL and, seemingly being satisfied at their conditions, nodded. The entire cafeteria seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when his eyes faded from white orbs of crackling electricity to their usual warm orange. As this happened, the small thunderstorm which had covered all of Beacon's campus began to swiftly dissipate.

"Good..." Glynda began, she seemed to be on guard as she spoke. "Now, you are to come with me." she muttered. turning her attention back to the rest of the cafeteria, she softened her gaze from what would be absolutely petrifying to most people, to its usual level of terror. "Some of you are to take team CRDL to the infirmary at once..."

None of the students dared to move an inch. "...NOW!"

And with that, every student in the cafeteria either scrambled to get team CRDL to the infirmary or watched as the silent form of Leo followed Glynda out of the room.


	3. Chapter 3: The Broken Storm

**Notes: This chapter takes place in the rest of the 2 Jaunedice episodes from Volume 1**

 **I have a few slight ideas about pairings. I personally wanna continue this until I get up to date with the series (then beyond), so I don't really want to mess up any of the existing or potential canon ships. (Stupid, I know.)**

 **This of course does leave a few possible ones. If I were to choose a pairing, then I would probably pair Leo with Weiss, as I reckon it'd be a good pairing because the only person who's a likely love interest, Neptune, appears to have taken something like a back seat of sorts in the series. Plus, most people despise him (Though I am not exactly amongst that group of Neptune-haters...well, not religiously, at least. HA! NEPTUNE! RELIGION! HAHA, HE'S THE GOD OF THE SEA! HA!...I really shouldn't sit up writing until 3AM...oh well.) Also, I reckon the two contrast each other well, but have enough similarities so that they're not to the point of them being polar opposites like...say, Sun and Blake, for example.**

 **Pretty much none of the other potential pairings either wouldn't make sense due to where Leo ends up travelling or would conflict with already existing ships.**

 **Fuck it. After writing all this horseshit above, I've since given up and said that this fanfic will maybe possibly could potentially be a Weiss or maybe Yang pairing (Though the latter is a lesser chance), depending on whatever I decide before the next chapter, feel free to maybe chuck in your thoughts as to who I should have Leo paired with. (I don't wanna fuck with potential ships like the harem that Blake will, in all probability, end up with, or one of the 2 that Ruby could potentially have (Plus, NO GODDAMN JALBAIT!). Yang is a possibility, as her thing with Blake might not go as far as everyone seems to think it does.)**

 **Also! When I was using the words 'beasts' or 'monsters' to describe team CRDL in the fight last chapter, I was moreso going for an attempt at making that scene in Leo's perspective in a way...needless to say, I know I did that rather poorly, but can't be bothered to go back and change it.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Consequences? Pffft! Also Jaunedice...**

Velvet, team RWBY and team JNPR stared in varying levels of shock and horror as Leo walked out of the cafeteria. Everyone expressed similar emotions, but they each held their own opinion of what they thought of the Mage's actions.

 _Ruby_ was conflicted. While she thought he had done the right thing at first, her happiness quickly faded as the brunette began mercilessly tearing into team CRDL. They deserved it, but that didn't make it right.

 _Weiss_ was worried, confused and mortified. Despite how the brunette managed to carry himself from the cafeteria as if he was at full strength, he did, to her at least, look to be in pain. Through the few weeks that the two had known one another, she was the only one who knew how much of a 'soft side' he had while she helped him with his studies occassionally, she had decided to help him due to the fact that he couldn't read upon being accepted into beacon. Normally, he was composed, honest and respectful, even if he was a bit of a brute at times. Plus, he had confided in her about his...family issues on his first day, which did give her some insight as to what kind of person he is. Though for someone to literially torture Cardin in public? She had only known one side of him...Now she has seen another.

 _Blake_ didn't react as badly as most. She would never admit it, but she was slightly envious that he, a human, would stand up for a faunus for no reason. While Blake, who was a Faunus herself, had sat by and watched the girl suffer from her front-row seat. Despite that, she had seen someone else in the place of Leo as he mercilessly beat the group of humans for a few moments during their fight. She saw her ex-partner, Adam Taurus. Though, she had seen him smile and speak kindly and softly to Velvet earlier, so maybe he just really didn't like bullies...

 _Yang_... The blonde felt fear when she looked into his eyes as he stood in front of Cardin. His eyes had held such hatred and contempt towards the leader of team CRDL that Yang had only ever seen in one other being, the Grimm. Sure, he did what was right, but did he do it because it was the right thing, or something else?

 _Jaune_ felt envy. He had thought Leo had reacted how he had, as a result of what Jaune had said. Sure, it was nice, but that isn't why he was here. He wanted to be able to do the things the mage could, like conjuring weapons out of lightning, taking out an entire team with ease, creating a freaking thunderstorm! He didn't want to be weak, he wanted to be a hero...

 _Nora_ was ecstatic. She had just watched someone nearly break their legs! Plus, if he did that 'hand on face' thing that he did with Cardin to her during a sparring match, then there'd be no way she could lose!

 _Pyrrha_ didn't exactly know how she felt. She and everyone else knew that team CRDL had absolutely deserved what had happened to them, so why did Leo's actions leave her with a feeling of disgust and shock? If what he did was truly right, then why did everything about it feel so wrong?

 _Ren_ was stunned. As he watched Leo fight, he had only seen him exhibit one emotion. Rage. the look in his eyes as he held Cardin down and pumped electricity into his brain reminded him...of a beast that had destroyed his home and slaughtered his family.

 _Velvet_ , despite also having seen his eyes, which were full of contempt and wrath when he battled the team, believed that he was doing a few things as he fought team CRDL: Firstly, he was making a statement that racism against the Faunus will not be tolerated by him. The Faunus couldn't strike back lest they be pinned as animals and psychos. So, having a human defend a Faunus he's never met sends a good statement. Secondly, despite how he had looked as angry when he grabbed Cardin's wrist as he was when he was staring him dead in the eyes whilst pumping volts into his aura, Leo had given her a genuine smile and spoke to her truthfully.

In truth, Velvet was worried for him. "What if he gets expelled?" The rabbit-girl in question spoke dejectedly as she looked at the two teams of first-years with worry visible in her eyes.

All eight of them turned to her with varying emotions in their eyes: Anger, shock, disgust were among said emotions, the first and third were only exhibited by a certain blonde brawler. "What?!" she muttered. "Didn't you see how h-"

The gilded brawler was swiftly inturrupted as Blake, of all people, spoke up. "He won't get expelled, thats for sure. Sure, he'll probably get detention, but there's no chance that he'll be expelled. Leo fought them because they were harrassing you. Stopping racism sounds like a decent reason to act."

Upon hearing Blake's reassuring words, the whole group seemed to calm down a little. Sure, Leo did look pretty scary, but he was just defending another student, right?

There was no way that he would be expelled...

 ***Ozpin's Office:**

"Ozpin...Remind me again, why is Mister Helios not being expelled?" Glynda muttered as she stared daggers at the headmaster.

The man in question was sitting at his desk with a cup of coffee in his hand. when Glynda had showed him the footage of the altercation, Ozpin noticed something that was quite balringly obvious, when you thought about it.

Despite how he had used his semblance to a degree that many would call unecessary, the headmaster noted how Leo had stopped attacking his targets either when their aura had been broken, or when it was seemed close to breaking. Russell thrush, for example. The boy had been thrown through a roof and struck by lightning, but when he landed back in the cafeteria, the student in question still had enough aura left to both shield him from any further harm and shield his body.

Cardin Winchester had been the main target. So, when his aura got low and he couldn't get back up to fight, Leo used that to his advantage by intimidating him with that javelin. Cardin still had enough aura to defend against an attack or two, meaning that Leo had calculated this and probably created the javelin with less power than what would have been necessary to break his aura.

Sky...Well, despite the brutal attacks he had inflicted upon him, Leo did stop as the boy's aura shattered. Perhaps it took him a moment to regain his composure during the fight after his inital burst of rage.

What Leo had done to Dove was more of a statement than anything. He had shown that, despite Dove's incredible reflexes, high level of skill and decent agility, Leo can evidently throw attacks that simply can't be dodged or blocked. Plus, he still had some of his aura left after impacting the stone pillar.

Ozpin explained his points to Glynda, even showing how the towering student's semblance, despite how he looked ready to burst, had completely deactivated when he spoke with Velvet, as if to show that she, and possibly the other students, didn't need to be afraid of him.

"So you see, Glynda. Mr Helios isn't currently on a bullhead back home...wherever that is, because of... how efficiently he handled the situation, for lack of a better phrase, that is."

Though she understood the situation much better, she couldn't help but ask a specific question. "So, thats it then?" Ozpin raised an eyebrow at her question, gesturing for her to continue. "Just because they deserved it, are we just going to let him get away with beating down another team in the middle of lunch?"

'she really won't give up on this...Oumdammit' Ozpin waved his hand at her question, "No, he will not get away with this without being appropriately punished, though expulsion is a terrible punishment for someone like him, considering both the context of the situation and his potential as a hunter. You will be in charge of 'picking his punishment', as it were. You may deliver any punishment, aside from expulsion or suspension that you deem appropriate, Glynda."

By the way the deputy headmistress's eyes widened for half a moment, his bargain seemed to satisfy her. 'Thank Oum for that.' the headmaster thought to himself. Glynda nodded and turned to leave without a word. She was likely thinking up thousands of potential punishments for the poor boy. "Oh, and, Glynda? Can you send Mr Helios in? I wish to have a word with him."

Moments passed as Glynda took the elevator down, Ozpin's waiting turned into boredom. 'I reaaally need to get a faster elevator system...Maybe I could go find Raven and...ask her to allow someone in Atlas to just...science up a copy of her semblance to use instead of elevators. That'd save me some time.'

A full minute later, the elevator dinged and the doors opened, revealing Glynda and a rather sluggish Leo. The towering student staggered into the room in a manner that seemed unfitting when compared to how he usually walks. His usual walk is one full of confidence and style, but now? Leo was dragging his feet in a way that made it seem as if every step was causing him physical pain. The boy breathed a sigh of relief as he wordlessly threw himself back into the rather comfortable chair and quickly made himself comfortable.

Ozpin adjusted his glasses before giving off a gentle smile as he leant forward slightly, "Mr. Helios, I have a few questions for you about your actions at break today, if you would care to answer them?"

Leo nodded slightly, he was obviously in a weakened state right now, he didn't look tired, per se. He looked as if multiple muscle in his body had either been pulled or torn, and he didn't have the aura to heal it so he just had to deal with the pain. Though Ozpin seemingly didn't notice anything odd aside from his current state and a slight surprised glint in Leo's eyes that lasted for a moment, he seemed to be fine, in the sense that he wasn't about to suddenly fall over and die.

The thing that had managed to surprise Leo to such an extent was the fact that he had just used 'observe' on the headmaster, and had even found a 'Wizard of Oz' reference in there.

 _Headmaster Ozpin_

 _Titles: 'The Headmaster' 'The man of a Thousand Souls' 'The Wizard IS Oz'_

 _Semblance: ?_

 _HP: ?_

 _MP: ?_

 _Aura Levels: 100%_

 _Stats:_

 _INT: UNKNOWN_

 _WIS: CANNOT CALCULATE_

Other Stats are Unavailable. Reason:?

'umm...cannot calculate..? Huh, he has MP, nobody else aside from me and him do, it seems. Meaning the 4 Maidens probably do as well...well, 5 maidens right now...technically? Also, "The Wizard IS Oz"?...My semblance has a weeird sence of humor..Huh? A quest popup?'

* _Optional Quest: Tell Ozpin_

 _You have a chance to tell Ozpin (Potentially Glynda) what you know. Whether you tell him everything about you and what you know or just a bit about the future, or even nothing. It's up to you..._

 _Quest steps: Tell Ozpin or Don't tell Ozpin_

 _(Tell Ozpin) rewards: Access to the 'Guardians of Remnant' Faction, Potential path to the Beacon relic (Only useful if going to choose 'betray Ozpin' quest path), Closer relationships with multiple people. 10,000 EXP. You may get out of the trouble you would otherwise be in by telling Ozpin and Glynda._

 _(Don't tell Ozpin) Results: Resume life at Beacon, Hidden knowledge about the events of RWBY is more relevant if you don't 'tell Ozpin', Glynda will surely punish you for what you did to team CRDL. You remain as an unknown variable in ?'s plans. 2,000 EXP_

 _-Tell Ozpin- -Don't tell Ozpin-_

 _*Optional side Quest: Just fuck with him a bit_

 _Ozpin is a smug bastard at times, and this conversation will surely lead to him being his smug self. Fuck with him a bit to wipe off that 'know all, see all' grin._

 _Quest Steps: Wait until he gains a smug grin then say something to turn it to shock._

 _Completion rewards: 10,000EXP, A good laugh (God knows you need one), the curiousity of the headmaster. You will be giving away valuble knowledge that should probably remain secret._

 _Faliure results: Nothing really, but you don't get the laugh or the EXP._

 _-Accept- -Decline-_

Leo positioned himself so the popups were directly infront of Ozpin so it's look like he was still maintaining eye contact, even though the headmaster could subtly see his eyes flicking across the words occassionally.

"Mr. Helios. Despite what my inital beliefs were, you maintained an excellent level of control when going up against team CRDL, even though you looked as if you had completely succumbed to your rage." The headmaster was silent for a moment so his words could truly sink in. "That, combined with how your talents would be wasted if you were thrown out, you will not be getting expelled today. Instead, you will be subject to whatever punishment Ms. Goodwitch deems appropriate."

Leo nodded, though his attention was mainly focused on the two buttons before him. 'I...I should probably not tell him about how I know about the future...right? that would mess up the story even more than me just being here does. I have info, so I should keep it close and not completely destroy it's usefulness.' "right. Thank you very much sir. Is that all?"

A small grin that almost looked smug found it's way onto Ozpin's face as he leaned back in his chair, "Yes, that will be all for now. Glynda will be sending the details of your punishment to your scroll sometime in the near future."

'Oh, there's that Smug-bastard grin of his!...For some reason, I reeeallly want to complete that quest to get that grin off of his face...10,000EXP...that'll nearly level me up...heh, I have a brilliant idea...' Leo nodded silently and staggered over to the elevator, ignoring the pain in his limbs that had come as a result of using Stormtrance so foolishly. Casting the spell cost him both his mana and his aura, so all of the backlash from his attacks when he was using it hit him with full force, considering how he couldn't use Aura to protect his body when he was throwing about massive attacks like they were nothing.

Hitting the button on the side panel, Leo grinned back at the headmaster, who looked rather smug in his chair. holding his scroll at his back, but to the side a bit and opening the camera app, Leo spoke with his usual confidence, with a light dash of ill-concealed mirth. "Y'know, Ozpin. I can only imagine what it would be like to suddenly realise that there's a new Wizard in Remnant, how's it feel?." And with that, Leo had just given away vital information like a fucking idiot. He knew it was stupid.

But the look on the headmaster's face was absolutely...PRICELESS! And he had taken a photo of it, too!

 _* You completed Optional side Quest: Fuck with him a bit!_

 _You successfully messed with Ozpin. He will now question how much you know and what you meant by that._

 _You got 10,000EXP_!

'Damn...I'm literially 4 EXP away from levelling up...'

As the doors shut, Leo swore he could hear the sound of Glynda's jaw hitting the ground in shock as the chuckling fool began his descent.

Opening his dormroom, Leo made it about three steps before he promptly collapsed into one of his desk chairs. When he was making his way through the various hallways of Beacon, Leo could feel almost every set of eyes on him. Thus, in another act of his usual foolishness, Leo decided that he wouldn't allow himself to look like his fight with team CRDL had even left him winded, despite how the leg that he had stomped Sky with was hurting like a bitch, while both of his arms were still stinging from when he- "I Fucking launched Dove. Like, I mean really. He flew!"...yes, that.

When he was making his way through the campus, Leo thought about what message it would send to people if he faltered. 'If people think that I'm as strong as usual after fighting those four, then that will absolutely ruin their reputation. People won't be as afraid of them anymore if they see that one person can easily kick their asses, they won't be able to bully as many people anymore, in theory. Plus, I want to look badass...'

Quickly flopping down in a chair in his dorm, Leo sighed loudly. "Holy fuck...I swear I've at the very least, fractured something...At least team Cardinal won't be bullying people around me anytime soon..."

Leo looked down to see that he had gained a few popups and such.

 _You Defeated team CRDL!_

 _You gained 4 EXP!_

 _You Levelled up! Gaining 5 stat points!_

 _'Four exp?...oh semblance, don't ever change your sense of humor...'_

 _Battle results: (Victory)_

 _You got +1 Int!_

 _You got +2 Wis!_

 _You got +5 Dex!_

 _You got +2 Vit!_

 _You got +2 End!_

 _You lost 3 points of Cha!_

 _Stormtrance is now level 3!_

 _Lightning bolt is now level 2!_

 _Sparks has evolved into: Storm's Grasp!_

 _*Storm's Grasp (Level 1)_

 _After placing your hand on an opponent, you can channel a concentrated stream of electricity to your fingertips._

 _Both spell damage and MP cost increases depending on how long Storm's grasp is used for, eventually hitting a maximum capacity of 2x original intensity._

 _Cost: 15MP/sec - 50MP/sec_

 _Can only be used with constant direct touch._

Dismissing the messages, Leo had a quick glance at his stats. As he did so, a popup informed him that he had gained a new title. 'The Storm...' As he dismissed the message, Leo's body suddenly felt like it was healing at an incredibly fast rate. 'Huh, I guess hero's complex is doing it's work now, finally...500% HP regen and double aura regen for a short time...that actually makes this thing more useful than not. What was stopping the regen from activating, though?'

 _Leo Helios (level 21)_

 _Titles; "The Storm"_

 _"The Storm": Grants immunity to the "Calm after the storm" debuff, which grants -100% aura and mana regen for 30 minutes._

 _'h, that's what was stopping the regen...riiight...thanks convenitent title.'_

 _Semblance: 'g'ods Gift (The 'Gamer')_

 _Age 17_

 _Gender: Male_

 _Height: 7"3_

 _HP: 182/230 (HP represents damage you can withstand before your body begins to become like a 'normal one'.)_

 _MP: 0/480 (Mana points. All spells and most skills cost MP to use.)_

 _Aura level: 13% (Your soul...enough said.)_

 _Unspent Stat points: 45_

 _STR: 31 (Physical Strength)_

 _DEX: 28 (Physical Agility, Other Miscellanious things associated with Dexterity.)_

 _END: 27 (HP regen, Physical Endurance)_

 _VIT: 23 (Max HP, Resistance to poisons)_

 _INT: 40 (Spell damage, MP regen)_

 _WIS: 50 (Max MP)_

 _CHA: 16 (Dictates how comfortable people are around you. Affects Speech Stat)_

'Why does my semblance seem like it's consious? I wonder if I should just pump all of my stat points into charisma or some shit...I bet those Brexit negotiations back on Earth would go fuuuckin smoothly if I had 61 Charisma...I could probably convince France and Germany that they should be a part of the UK and that memes shouldn't be banned...Maybe even tell America that they're British while I'm at it. Fucking with things back on Earth would be sooo fun...Wait a sec...I coould have 85 Int...that's useful, I can see it now...casually throwing around Kamehameha's like I'm some kid firing shots from a nerf gun...or more endurance...I could literially become Giant Dad from Dark souls...Just be able to sprint a marathon without breaking a sweat...actually, using the strength that Stormtrance gave me without any Aura left me kinda fucked, maybe I actually should do just that...'

Leo was suddenly jolted from his thoughts when he saw a familiar set of brown bunny ears that were poking in through his open door, which were slowly followed by the timid face of the rabbit faunus from the cafeteria earlier. "H-hello?"

Nodding in response, Leo smiled politely. "Hello. Do you need something?"

The Faunus almost seemed to shrink back for a moment before she looked around the rest of his room, obviously noticing how there was only a single bed in a completely undecorated dorm thats usually meant for four. "U-uh, yes. May I...May I come in?"

"Go for it."

The girl pulled up a chair from the other desk and sat a few meters apart from Leo, "I...just wanted to say thank you for helping me earlier today. It means alot." Her words were genuine, that much was obvious.

Leo waved aside her thanks and smiled. "No problem. I'm not exactly a fan of Cardin, or bullies in general for that matter. Plus, I didn't even get in much trouble for it."

The rabbit girl quickly returned his smile and nodded. "That's good. It's sad that not all people share your views, though."

"yeah...Some people are the bullies and others just sit by and do nothing aside from say how it isn't right to bully others." Leo said that last bit as if he was just saying that for no reason, but his 'Hero's complex' had him unconsciously direct that comment to two teams in paticular.

His new friend only nodded in response as an awkward silence descended upon the room. 'oh fuck, I killed the conversation...QUICK BRAIN, THINK!...Huh, now that I think about it, My arms feel pretty weird...wait a sec...are they...?'

Suddenly, The girl's eyes widened as she watched Leo take his leather jacket off, wincing as he did so. "o-oh my Oum..."

"Huh..." His rather muscled arms were completely blanketed in various bruises and hundreds of needle-thin burn lines where lightning had moved across his exposed flesh dotted the surface like a labyrinth. While the lightning he had used couldn't directly harm him when he was using StormTrance, the aftermath of his body releasing the 'spare' electricity when he deactivated the spell left his arms as quite a horrid sight to behold. Luckily, the lightning, due to some random effect of his semblance, couldn't actually enter his muscles and just ended up burning the surface of his skin.

And that's not even mentioning how many bones may have been fractured or muscles had been pulled when he wasn't protected by his aura. He did swing a battleaxe, which probably weighed more than an average-sized car with nothing but his strength. Which, while enhanced greatly by Stormtrance, didn't exactly do anything to buff his body's physical endurance. Meaning that, while he could hit an opponent like several freight trains, he also felt the full force of hitting someone that hard being reflected back onto him. 'Maybe I should be more careful with how I use my strength with StormTrance. It costs my entire aura at this point, after all. At least the wounds are healing pretty quickly. Thanks Hero's complex!'

'I guess Isaac Newton was right, Every force does have an equal and opposite reaction. Hit Dove across cafeteria, proceed to fracture both of my arms or something that feels really bloody similar to that...Lovely...'

Leo draped his jacket over his chair and leaned back, "Yeah...kinda looks like I decided to try fighting Thor in hand-to hand combat while wearing a burning wedding dress. It should be fine soon, though"

His rather specific analogy for how his arms looked actually drew a chuckle from the Faunus. "D-did your...semblance do that to you?"

"Yeah...today was kinda the first time I ever used that ability. That, and I was more focused on...things other than making sure that a little bit of lightning wouldn't burn me. It couldn't do anything that electricity usually does when it hits you aside from simply burning me, though."

"Huh..." the girl mumbled as she shuffled closer, she was now sitting little more than a metre from the towering mage. "But...didn't you use an even more powerful version of what you did today during the initiation? Like, one-shotting the biggest Ursa I've ever seen type powerful? Did using that do this as well?"

Leo thought about it for a moment before he realised why that was the case. "No. Because, what I did during initiation was a...it was a pretty special case, so I managed to keep about half of my aura when I used it. Though, today...I just straight-up emptied my whole aura into casting it."

The rabbit girl Nodded, seemingly satisfied with his answer, though she did seem rather shocked that he had dumped his entire Aura into the fight in the cafeteria. "Huh. You... A-anyways, I just wanted to say thank you for the help. I appreciate it."

"Of course. Though, I wouldn't mind knowing the name of the person who's actually thanking me." He did know, but what if she eventually realised that she hadn't introduced herself before he started using her name? That'd be awkward.

The rabbit Faunus suddenly seemed flustered. "O-Oh! I didn't introduce myself earlier? S-sorry...I...don't actually know your name either. I'm Velvet, Velvet Scarletina."

"I'm Leo, Leo Helios." Despite how the effort was clearly causing him physical pain, Leo extended his hand forward to his new friend.

"Nice to meet you Leo." Velvet replied as she apprehensively shook his hand, making sure to not shake his wounded arm too hard. As she shook his hand, she noticed that the labytrinth of indentations on his skin were already fading, rather quickly too, he would probably be back to his full strength pretty soon.

"Likewise. How are your ears, by the way?" Leo said as he slowly stood up and began moving to his bed.

Velvet seemed genuinely shocked for a moment at his question. "T-they're fine. Thanks...to you..." She had said that last bit mainly to herself, but he had evidently heard her.

"no problem." The brunette replied as he laid down on his bed and closed his eyes so he could relax easier. "So. Did you need anything else, or is that all? Cause if so...I'm gonna get some shut-eye."

The Faunus nodded and moved her chair back to the desk before moving over to the door. "Actually...I do have one question..." She began.

"Shoot."

velvet began to look visibly uncomfortable for a moment before she steeled herself and answered. "Why? Why did you bother to stand up for me? You didn't even know my name beforehand."

Leo opened his warm orange eyes and simply stared at her in silence for a moment before a small smirk eventually graced his features. "Why wouldn't I? If I had turned my back on someone who was being bullied, then I would nearly be as bad as the bullies themselves. 'night." And with that, Leo shut his eyes and instantly fell asleep.

 _*You got +4 Cha! (Note: The lower a stat is, the easier it is to gain large amounts of it at once.)_

Velvet, on the other hand, was staring at her new friend's sleeping form in shock. He didn't care that she was a Faunus, he didn't even mention it aside from when he had asked about if her ears were alright. In the cafeteria, he obviously didn't see some random Faunus. He saw someone who was being bullied, he saw people acknowledging what was happening as they watched from afar and not doing anything.

Looking at the quickly fading scorch marks that covered his bare arms, Velvet realised that he might be the kind of person who would do anything to protect someone else who deserved to be protected. With her thoughts currently in shambles and disbelief at what kind of person he might be, Velvet simply turned and left the room, making sure to close the door behind her before slowly making her way back to her dorm. "I mean...he took on an entire, fully-armed team by himself with only his bare hands and his semblance, all without any of the protection from his aura...he could've gotten really hurt!...all to protect some random Faunus who he's never seen, let alone spoken with beforehand...Plus, he did manage to perfectly control his own strength during that fight. He...he did only break Sky's aura, but that could've just been because the two hits he took him out in could've been him adjusting to his power or something..."

The confused Faunus had been so distracted by her own thoughts that she didn't even notice the golden-haired brawler who had been listening to the majority of their conversation. The last thing Leo had said shocked her as much as it did Velvet, and after listening to the rabbit-girl's self-ramblings as to why he had helped her, Yang's doubts faded slightly.

But only slightly.

Nothing could change that primal terror she felt when she looked into his eyes. Was that his intention? To look so intimidating that a single glare from him could make even Ms Goodwich stutter and lose her confidence for a moment? Was his idea to literially traumatise all of team CRDL with that look or something, so that they wouldn't bully anyone ever again?

Did he even notice what those eyes reminded her of?

Turning on her heel, Yang quickly stomped down the short walk and slammed her dorm room door behind her. If he was a threat to anyone besides those who deserved it, she wouldn't hesitate to stop him.

about an hour later, Leo awoke, feeling refreshed and healthy. Looking down at his still-exposed arms, he noted that his wounds had both healed and hadn't left any scars. 'Damn I'm glad that didn't scar...I'd look like Deadpool or something.'

Sitting up so he was sitting on the edge of his bed, Leo began the arduous process of both checking through his scroll and his semblance's menus for anything new.

After a while of mindless scrolling, Leo found two things that caught his attention: A single message from Glynda that contained a list of times when he had detention, containing 5 detentions in total 'Dammit'. Something else caught his attention as well, in his menus.

 _*StormTrance (Level 3)_

 _In your times of need, become the Storm to obliterate your enemies in both mind and body!_

 _Grants two passive buffs:_

 _*Sixth Sense: Sense Aura_

 _*Eyes of the storm: Glowing eyes that grant increased reaction times, eye contact results in the recipient of your gaze being left with feelings of intense terror towards the user. Variant of effect: Eyes of the Grimm._

 _Lightning-related spells temporarily cost no mana and gain a massive power boost for as long as Stormtrance is active._

 _Level-ups with StormTrance grant extra abilities while using this spell._

 _Requires: Sudden intense spike in rage and determination are the most effective in bringing about this ability._

 _Cost: Requires Large amounts of: Emotions, Mana or Aura_

the spell 'Stormtrance', despite it's changes, wasn't what had caught his attention, Rather the 'Eyes of the Storm' is what had intrigued him. "Feelings of Intense Terror...? Wait... Oh my god... did I traumatize team CRDL?...hope not."

Leo had seen the buff when he first got stormtrance, though back then it only gaze him a reaction time buff. 'Why'd it change?'

Doing his best to brush the thought aside, Leo continued scrolling through the list of spells that he had unlocked.

To put it as plainly as possible, Electricity-related spells havent been the only thing that he's been improving upon. He had since created other magical and elemental spells, though, considering how the 'god' had suggested that he only use lightning in Beacon, and Leo had listened, he hadn't had much time to practice or learn. He had bothered to learn because after volume 3, it wouldn't matter if he used multiple elements, it's just easier and raises less questions if he uses something less OP as his 'Beacon semblance'

So far, he has created a few new variants of his favourite spell. It used to be called "Elemental Focus", but it had evolved once it hit level 8, changing it's name to:

 _*Elemental Manipulation (Level 9)_

 _Focus your energy on the world around you to either create or use any elements to assist you in combat._

 _Cost type: Mp or Aura_

 _Cost: Dependant on complexity, uses mana or aura over time to keep spell 'alive'. Costs more if caster must create an element from nothing._

 _Possible elements: Lightning (Level 10), Earth (Level 4), Fire (Level 3), Darkness (Level 1), Light (Level 1) ? (Yet to be unlocked)_

 _Possible Catalysts: The body, Staff, Wand, Enchanted weaponry_

Though with how he had to spend most of his tim studying, he hadn't had much time to train the other elements aside from lightning, which he could so pretty much every day. Leo had found out how he could practice with each of them from inside his room in...relative safety.

Earth, that being the only one that might not be that obvious, could be used if Leo simply manipulated the ground outside. This was the only one, along with Light, out of his existing elements that couldn't be created from nothing and mana.

The rest could all be used easily enough. Light, as of now, required existing light to manipulate, so Leo had to leave the light in his room on for that. Darkness was best used at night. Fire was pretty dangerous around the slightly flammable room, but he hasn't managed to burn it down...yet.

Checking the time on his scroll, Leo realised that it was Almost time for history class, that being one he couldn't afford to skip, 'not as if It'd be a good idea to skip any class, considering that I'm still boned in terms of knowledge'. The brunette, using the rather helpful 'character sheet' function, instantly un-equipped his clothes and replaced them with his school uniform before grabbing his leather jacket off the chair and making his way to class. Despite Ms. Goodwich constantly being on his case about it, Leo couldn't bear to part with it for very long...That and it has essentially been 'claimed' by his semblance, making it an official armour piece.

* _Leo's Jacket_

 _This jacket, which was gifted to you by your father, is all that remains of your old life...besides you and some not-so-sentimental items, that is._

 _Constant use of Elemental magic while wearing this has made it more resiliant to all forms of Elemental/Dust damage._

 _The memories associated with this piece of clothing are literially a part of you. Increases Aura regen slightly_

 **Oobleck's Class:**

As Leo opened the doors, he noticed that Cardin was in class, he must've been in the infirmary for a while, because he looked to be in decent enough shape. 'Huh...I kinda forgot how the whole Jaunedice bit is all in a single day...I really need to re-watch the first volume...why haven't I done that yet?!'

Various sets of eyes instantly locked onto him as he stood in the doorway, contemplating where exactly he should sit. Suddenly, Leo caught the sight of a set of brown bunny ears and a small hand waving towards him. It was Velvet. She was sat in the middle-front row of the class with both Pyrrha and Blake behind them, Jaune was off to the row to her left with his head in his hands, while a now-terrified Cardin was sat in the row behind the blonde.

Leo nodded to Velvet and made his way down to the front row, smirking to himself slightly as he nonchalantly strolled past a terrified Cardin, eventually shuffling into the front row beside the rabbit Faunus.

Professor Oobleck's lesson w-'DOCTOR!'...'WHAT THE FUCK?!...Where the fuck did that voice come from?!...' Leo thought to himself, Oobleck hadn't physically spoken, but he was staring straight into Leo's soul.

Anyways, Doctor Oobleck's lesson was rather interesting, or would have been, at least. "Have any among you been subjugated or descriminated because of your Faunus heratige?" The doctor questioned to the class as he moved around at speeds that absolutely had to be quicker than that of sound.

Looking around the room, Leo noticed that everyone with visible Faunus traits had raised their hands, but the bunny-girl sitting next to him looked rather uncomfortable. Velvet looked around to make sure that other Faunus were also doing the same before before slowly raising her hand with visible discomfort, though a reassuring smile from the towering indvidual next to her erased much of said discomfort.

The caffine-addicted speedster that was his teacher began to rattle off on some quick monolouge about how violence only breeds violence, eventually using the White Fang as an example before moving back to the lesson. A paticular black-haired girl in the row behind him seemed rather shocked that he used them as an example, angry even.

"Now, can any of you budding scholars answer for me what was the turning point in the third year of the war?"

Two rows back from Leo, a certain heiress didn't even hesitate as she raised her hand with absolute confidence. "The battle at Fort Castle."

"Who names a fort, Castle? That's some goddamn false advertising, if you ask me." Leo mumbled to himself, which actually managed to draw a slight chuckle from both the raven-haired Blake, who was sat in the row behind him, and from Velvet to his right.

'How did Blake hear th...oh, right...kitty ears.' As a response to his own forgetfulness, Leo's palm made instant contact with his forehead as Oobleck continued talking for a few moments, making Leo's eyes widen. 'Oh shit, did I miss some of his lecture? I've only missed a few seconds, but if he was saying anything other than a question, I've pretty much missed 3 terms worth of notes.'

A sharp "hey" drew his attention over to Jaune, then to the small triangle of paper that Cardin had obviously just flicked at him. 'Motherfucker...he just doesn't learn...at least I remember where we're at in the lesson now, though.'

Due to his sudden excitement at hearing the blonde fool speak up, Doctor Oobleck instantly materialised infront of Jaune before almost yelling. "MR ARC! FINALLY CONTRIBUTING TO CLASS! THIS IS EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT! What, is the answer?" Never mind...he wasn't almost yelling, he was just yelling...

Everyone's eyes were on Jaune at this point. This was quite possibly the only time he had ever spoken in class, though he obviously hadn't heard the question. 'you poor, poor fool'

The blonde stuttered for a moment, eventually noticing Pyrrha's attempt at helping him. "u-uh...Binoculars!" A few of his classmates laughed at his mistake, Cardin being the one who laughed the most as he leant back, resting his feet on the bench as he picked at his ear.

Oobleck only sighed. "Very funny, mr Arc. Cardin!? Would you care to share your thoughts on the subject!?" The doctor was obviously annoyed at the burnt-haired brunette, and, seeing how Jaune had bowed his head in defeat upon hearing his peers laughter, decided to draw the attention away from the poor blonde fool.

Cardin then proceeded to say the worst thing he could've, as if he had completely forgotten about a certain lightning-chucking individual two rows down. "Well, I know it's alot easier to train an animal than a soldier." His voice was full of snark and pure detestment for the Faunus.

Leo did his best to refrain from frying the 'not-so-closet racist' that was sat two rows up. Though, despite his efforts, he couldn't stop a bit of electricity as it began webbing inbetween his fingers while he forced himself to stare forward with dead eyes. This wasn't another Stormtrance situation, Noooooo, not by a looooong shot, this was just his anger towards how someone like Cardin can be so blatently racist in the middle of class and get away with it. That was fucking with his concentration and powers a bit. 'What kind of fucking school just allows this shit? Actually, no, scratch that. WHAT KIND OF FUCKING PLANET ALLOWS THIS?!'

No, he was only able to use Stormtrance earlier as a result of the effect 'Hero's complex', which both made it easier to get annoyed or angry when seeing another person get injured or harrassed, and only increased said feelings next time such a thing happened with each time he ignored them. Leo had refrained from forcibly stopping Cardin for a few weeks now, and his 'hero's complex' effect had essentially 'reset' after he let off some 'steam' back in the cafeteria.

Though Velvet couldn't possibly know that. She stared at Leo with worry in his eyes as the brunette forced himself to look straight ahead. 'He's such an annoying prick.'

Oobleck sighed in what was likely disgust upon hearing the boy's response. He looked to be about to say something before Pyrrha turned her head towards him with what appeared to be... visibly refrained anger?! From Pyrrha?! "You're not the most...open-minded of individuals, are you Cardin?"

The Burnt-haired fool decided that it would be a good idea to talk back to a four-time Mistrillian champion. Great idea Cardin! "What? You got a problem?!"

before Leo could shout something along the lines of 'She might not, but I sure as hell do!' or 'You might not be that open-minded right now Cardin, but I can change that with some time, your skull and a ball peen hammer!', at which point, Cardin would've likely been hit by a tiny blast of lightning that wouldn't have really done anything more than 'shock' Cardin a bit, 'Because intimidation is necessary, kids!'. Pyrrha suddenly regained her composure, turned back to the teacher and spoke with a smile on her face.

"No, I have the answer. It's night vision. Most Faunus are well-known to have nearly perfect sight, even in the darkest of places." This served to piss Cardin off. 'Ooooh, that's what they're doing. Damn, I reeeallly need to re-watch volume 1, I forgot all about this kinda stuff! Lucky I brought my hard-drive with me.'

Satisfied with both her answer and how Cardin looked, Pyrrha's grin only widened as Blake added on her own string of comments, both to explain how night vision and to antagonise the already-annoyed Winchester "General Lagoon was new and inexperienced, he made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus while they slept. His overwhelming army was swiftly defeated and the general was taken prisoner." Turning to Cardin, Blake spoke with poorly-hidden mirth and annoyance toward the student in question. "Maybe, if you actually listened in class, then he wouldn't be known as such a faliure."

That was it for him. Cardin stood up with clenched fists and anger in his eyes. Leo, at this point was simply enjoying the show. But he DID want to see just how scared of him Cardin was, if at all.

So, the towering brunette' amusement only grew as he looked over to Cardin, resting his left arm on the row above him an letting flickers of electricity run along his arm and spoke in such a way that couldn't, by any means, be classified as yelling, though he was loud enough to attract the immediate attention of everyone in the room. "Hey, Cardin..."

Cardin turned to Leo, who's sheer amusement only grew as the leader of team CRDL now looked rather concerned for his health. "Sit down...You're interrupting the Doctor's lesson, which is a rather interesting lesson at that. Your starting to annoy me too, at this point..." Leo fell silent to let those words sink in while Oobleck spoke up.

"Quite. Mr Winchester, please take your seat. Thank you, Mr. Helios."

Jaune was sadly unable to hide his chuckles as he watched Cardin go from: 'I'm going to run headfirst into a champion and get my ass beat!' levels of anger to 'Please keep Zeus's favourite child away from me!' levels of fear in a single second. "Cardin. You and Mr Arc will BOTH be seeing me after class for additional readings. Now, Moving on!"

And with that, Oobleck went back to speeding around the room at what could only be classified as supersonic speeds, if the sounds of a constantly shattering sound barrier were anything to go by. 'Thank god for the fact that aura stops us from going deaf...Or at least I hope it does.'

As class ended, Oobleck had not forgotten to keep Jaune and Cardin back. The former of which Leo gave a reassuring pat on the back as the blonde took his seat, while the latter of which nearly got trampled by Leo's heavy boots as the two passed each other by on the stairs. "Hey!"

"What?" The mage deadpanned.

"Oh. N-nothing."

'I don't wanna seem like a total asshole, right? I wanna basically be less than what Cardin was to Jaune.' "Alright then..."

Walking out of the class, Leo noticed that Pyrrha had stayed behind. The brunette nodded to the redhead before leaning his back against the wall that was opposite to the classroom door, so anyone exiting would have a clear view of the minature titan as they left.

After a few seconds and some painfully obvious attempts at stealthy glances that Pyrrha shot his way, Leo decided to break the silence. "Y'know, you can talk to me, rather than stealthily looking at me when you think I won't notice."

The champion's eye's widened for a moment at his correct accusation before her mind registered the rest of what he said. "I... was just wondering why you've decided to wait behind as well."

The brunette raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it obvious?"

It WAS obvious, Painfully so, in fact. Though Pyrrha obviously wanted him to specifically say it. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, that Cardin is definitely gonna try push over Jaune or something as they leave. If I'm here, then I can have a... wee chat... with Cardin afterwards, or simply scare him into not doing it in the first place."

Seemingly satisfied with the answer, the champion nodded and the conversation went silent. Until Leo realised something. 'Wait...What if Cardin doesn't push over Jaune because I'm here? Then what if Pyrrha doesn't offer to train him, which leads up to the rest of the Jaune arc?...hehe. the Jaune 'arc'. Maybe I should suggest her helping him?...'

Leo cleared his throat to get Pyrrha's attention before speaking again, "Pyrrha. I know Jaune is a good strategist, he's also quite a nice guy and all that...but-"

The mage had to bite his tongue to stop his grin as he immediately thought of the times he watched Gordon Ramsay have a rage at some guy. That gave him the mental image of Ozpin yelling at Jaune. 'Your a real nice guy!...Your a real nice guy! But we're done professionally!'

"-I think you should help him out a bit in terms of combat."

The redhead looked appalled for about half a moment, then she sighed. "I know. I've already got a place where we can train without anyone knowing scoped out, so he should be getting better soon."

Upon hearing this, Leo nodded. "Alright, just...please don't tell him that I said he needs to get better. We can both tell that he isn't... in the brightest of places right now, and I don't want him to think I hate him for being weak or something. Besides, I'm nothing too special in terms of skill myself, that and...I wouldn't be all to surprised if he hated me anyways..." The brunette trailed off.

His final comment caused Pyrrha's head to tilt to the side. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, what I did earlier today with team CRDL...wasn't exactly...something people think is fine to do."

The redhead's eyes widened for a moment, "Leo, Do...you think we all hate you for fighting team CRDL?"

"The thought has certainly occurred to me. Is...is that the case, or...?"

Pyrrha looked concerned and worried now, meaning that he probably had it all wrong. "No, no, no. Not at all! well...Yang is still a wee bit annoyed, but the rest of us have pretty much gotten over it, especially with what Velvet told us before class."

Leo accidentally breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh... well, that certainly makes me feel better...what the?!" Leo was of course, now referring to the supersonic flash of green and white that was Oobleck.

Cardin and Jaune soon exited the classroom and Cardin, either being blind, stupid or had just found the Relic of Destruction in the corner of Oobleck's class, actually shoved Jaune over!

Then the fool looked over and saw the towering form of Leo, with his back against the wall and flashes of lightning surging through his irises. "oooh, shit..." The leader of team CRDL mumbled as he turned and promptly sprinted down the hallway as fast as his legs could carry him.

Before he could turn a corner, a paticular smirking mage pointed one finger at the terrified 'bird' and sent out a tiny jolt of lightning that managed to make his target trip over, falling flat onto his face.

Satisfied with his handiwork, Leo shrugged off the effects of 'Hero's complex', nodded to Pyrrha, who had just helped Jaune up, and began making his way back to his dorm.

Leo's Dorm:

Sitting on the edge of his bed, Leo mentally debated with himself as to whether or not he should go and talk to Jaune up at the balcony after what Pyrrha and Cardin said...or...would say?.

'If I do, then I can maybe snap some sense into him...but that could just end up worse.'

'If I don't, then Cardin could do something worse to Jaune. the most likely thing, and the best-case scenario would be if he tells Jaune to throw the sap at me when we go on that field trip to Forever Fall, but I can't accurately guess what else could happen...Plus, if it does all go as it normally would, then it will just work itself out, like it did in Vol 1. Maybe Cardin realises that he just straight-up can't beat me and he'll go for Pyrrha for annoying him in class like In Vol 1...maybe?'

After a while, he resigned himself to simply checking out for new things in his semblance.

See, every few days, his semblance 'updates', giving him access or more info about certain things. Though it lacks some form of changelog, so he's forced to scroll through the menus every time he wanted to find out exactly what had changed. "what the...? Catalysts...?"

Leo spotted something in the 'spells' menu. upon hitting the button, labelled 'catalysts', Leo was positively ecstatic to see a set of different weapons that he could use to enhance his spell damage, his MP capacity and his MP regen. 'oh, sweet! I can make a staff, a wand...a...giant...crystal...orb that has the eye of sauron inside of it...? God. fucking. dammit. semblance...you and your sense of reference-filled humor."

The orb in question was simply labelled. "Demonic beach ball" and allowed him to essentially have a camera system if he made a bunch of other 'Demonic Beach Balls'.

Some of the catalysts weren't what you'd think of when you thought: "Wizard's weapon", there were enchanted scythes that would send out waves of mana with every strike and warhammers that were enchanted with massive amounts of earth magic so they could cause small earthquakes, just to name a few.

Eventually Though, the mage's eyes eventually hit the bottom of the page of weapon blueprints.

None of them had immediately caught his eye. Sure, there were a few that he could use, but what good was a weapon when he could just level up his WIS stat and simply create one out of nothingness?

'Then again...what if I run out in the middle of a fight? Because I know I will at some point...No matter how much Mana I have, it will happen.'

Considering how much of an issue that would be, Leo decided to look back through the menus for SOMETHING that: Looked somewhat nice, was his style and would work in a pinch.

After a solid half hour of searching, the mage eventually spotted what could only be referred to as some form of hidden gem.

He didn't see it due to it's rather dark and bland colour-scheme when he was just skimming through. The weapon was a simple, yet intimidating one-handed blade. One that was rather familiar, at that. "Hey...I remember this sword...This is Thorin Oakenshield's first sword from the Hobbit! The one he used before he found the elvish one. Which, if I remember correctly, was called Orcist..."

 _*Deathless. (*Google "The Hobbit Deathless" For the look of this sword. I'm bad at describing stuff, (I have tried, all of my attempts got scrapped.) so I won't even try.*)_

 _Sword rumoured to have been used by the legendary 'King under the Mountain'_

 _1.5x mana regeneration (until mana is full) when: Mana is depleted and user is wielding the sword._

 _Crafting options: Fully retractable blade, Summonable (Requires Mana), Enchantable._

As Leo inspected the image of the blade, he noticed that it would be about as long as Jaune's sword, though it would be a wee bit wider and thicker. 'Not surprising. It is a dwarvish blade, after all. Maybe I could ask Ruby to help me out...This design does look pretty intricate...'

After pressing a few buttons and expending a bit of his mana, Leo had successfully created a small brown leather-bound notebook that contained blueprints for the sword with the retractable blade function on the first page. 'the summonable option requires magic, so I'll add that in after the blade is done. Don't want people knowing that I'm a goddamn Wizard, after all.'

Checking the time, Leo realised that it was about time for dinner.

As the towering form of the lightning mage strode through the cafeteria, he spotted the table that held teams RWBY and JNPR, though Jaune wasn't present. 'I wonder whyy...' Leo thought to himself with almost endless amounts of self-directed sarcasm. Suddenly, a small popup made Leo's right eye twitch out of anger.

 _*You became more cynical!_

'...you fuckin serious...? Goddammit, I wonder what's for dinner?'

Much to his amazement, The chefs were serving up Leo's favourite meal for dinner: Lasagna.

That would normally go really well with him, but as he looked at the slab of pasta and mince on his plate, he thought about how his mother used to cook the best lasagna. Whenever she did, the entire family sat down at the dinner table. There was him, dad, mum, his older sister and his little sister. Even his grandad showed up occassionally!

He was so distracted that he didn't even hear someone calling out to him for a few seconds. "Hey! Leo! come over here and sit with us!" Nora's usually bubbly voice roared with it's usual dosage of pure enthusiasm...and possibly crack-cocaine...

Leo spun around and saw the seven huntresses (and huntsman) in training staring at him with varying emotions visible on their faces. The mage bagan to make his way over, eventually pulling up another bench like he did last time. 'If Jaune shows up and see's me in his seat, after he just told his partner that he was a fraud...seeing someone who doesn't have a team of his own in his seat would probably send all the wrong messages.'

The seating arrangements were the exact same as they were the last time he had sat with them, minus Jaune of course.

Ruby was to his right, and an empty seat where a paticular depressed blonde would sit was to his left.

"U-uh...Thanks." Leo mumbled as he nodded to everyone. Though the simple courtesy was more out of instinct at this point, as his mind had re-focused on the memories he had of him and his old life. His family, in paticular.

He had only thought about them once since coming to Beacon, that was when he turned off 'The Mind' on his first day. 'Seriously, what kind of Lousy Son AM I?!'

Before he could continue his 'brooding', a familiar voice brought him to his senses. Ruby was gesturing to the small notebook that he had placed on the table to the right of his tray. "Hey, Leo? What's the book about?"

"Hm?...Oh, it's just a notebook. It's got a design for a weapon that I wanna make-" The moment he mentioned the word 'Weapon', the book disappeared from the table and materialised in Ruby's hands in a flash of rose petals. Her eyes widened and literially became filled with stars as she observed his plan.

"OOOHHHHHH, IT'S GOT A RETRACTABLE BLADE! IT'S GOT A COOL NAME! IT'S SOO COOL!"

As a result of her reaction, Weiss leaned over slightly to look at the design. "Hmm." was all she vocalised, but her eyes widened and flicked around the page rapidly. "The design is much more...elegant than I expected. It...looks like the type of weapon that royalty, or at the very least, a royal guard would use..."

At this point, everyone was intrigued. Everyone took turns at passing the book around and eyeing up the design for his new weapon. Eventually, the book got to Yang. She looked at it with pure curiosity for a moment before scoffing. "It looks nice, but the name seems a bit edgy, don't ya think? Deathless...Yeah thats totally edgy."

Leo thought about his response for a moment. 'okay so, in this world, I know that the god guy who is posing as my grandfather, alongside a probably non-existant grandmother is my only family, so how should I play this? I'll just say he's dead or something. Hopefully I can have another dream where I can tell him that, for my cover story he is dead, sometime soon. Then again, it wouldn't really matter either way, would it?'

"Yeah, it is a bit. But...I'm making it a replica of my grandfather's sword, name included." The mage replied solemnly.

Seeing the expression on his face, the mood at the table sort of...died down a bit. Eventually, Yang reached over to hand the book back "Sorry about what I said..."

Taking the book back and placing it in the inside of his Jacket, Leo forced a smile. "It's fine."

It clearly wasn't fine based on how his smile faded whilst he stared off into space for a bit, though nobody said anything and just continued their meal. Leo hadn't even touched his yet, eventually deciding to try some, 'It won't be as good as mum's lasagna, but it'll do, I guess.'

Taking a bite, Leo continued to think about some more of the good memories that he had with his family. It was nice to remember, but it hurt, considering that he would never. see. them. again.

He was so distracted that he didn't even notice a few tears slowly making their way down his face until Ruby spoke up. "Hey, uh...Leo?"

The mage's head snapped over to meet her gaze. "Hmm?"

Ruby stuttered to form an answer for a few seconds until Yang looked over at what all the fuss was about. "Uh, Sparks? You good? Cause your kinda...well, your kinda crying a bit."

Upon reaching his hand up to his face, Leo indeed realised that he had been crying. Wiping away the tears and putting on a small smile that was clearly forced, the mage simply nodded. "Y-yeah, I'm fine."

That evidently didn't sit well with either Yang, Ruby or Weiss, all of whom looked at him with either a deadpanned look, or with genuine concern, in Ruby and Weiss's case. "Really? 'Cause it's okay if your...not okay." Ruby began.

Leo, who had never really been good at...this kinda thing, subtly reached his hand down to his side and opened his menus to activate 'The Mind'

He held his finger over the 'activation' button, but he hesitated. He remembered how he felt when it was activated and, while he had been quite effective and could logically think his way through situations while not being inhibited by severe surges of certain emotions, he didn't exactly feel like himself. It felt wrong. '...Do I really want to do this again just so I can avoid some conversation..? No, not really.'

Dismissing the window, cancelling 'The Mind' in the process, Leo turned back to the three huntresses with a defeated sigh. "No...I'm not okay, but I will be. It's just...some pretty big family things happened just before Beacon, and...To say that I lost everything wouldn't be too far from the truth."

The entire table was either looking at him directly or were occasionally taking glances at him, even Blake had put her book down and was now shooting the occasional concerned glance his way.

After a few moments of silence, Yang eventually spoke up. "Well, Sparks, if you ever need anyone to talk to, we're all here."

Looking around the table, Leo found that Yang was indeed right. Ruby and Pyrrha both looked concerned, though Pyrrha's mind was obviously elsewhere (Probably to Jaune). Weiss and Blake remained mostly stoic, though their eyes gave away hints of emotion. Ren and Nora were giving him sympathetic looks that told him that they understood 'Considering their history, that's not really surprising.', and Yang had since put on her trademark smile.

The mage took a breath and nodded. "Thanks, guys."

And with that, everyone went back to their respective meals. Leo, though, was still thinking about his family and the world he had lost. His first instinct was to both bury and then ignore those thoughts, as in this new world he couldn't afford to be weak

But he still wanted to remember. So, after a full minute of mental debates, he decided to remember and vent all of his emotions in the best way he knew how.

"Hey, Pyrrha?" Leo asked quietly.

"yes Leo?" the redhead replied. she obviously looked a tad defeated and sad from her conversation with Jaune earlier but she at least put on a polite smile.

"Is Jaune in your dorm right now? Cause if he's not, do you think he'd mind if I borrowed his guitar for a little bit?" Leo really wanted to vent some steam, and what better way to do it than to have music?

"I doubt that he would mind." Pyrrha replied quickly. "I'll get it for you after dinner, okay?"

"Thanks..."

From across the table, Yang's eyes widened. "Sparks, you can play?"

Her reaction actually drew a smirk from the mage. "Oh hell yeah I can."

Pyrrha, of all people, was shaken from her thoughts and easily looked the most stunned. Probably due to how his semblance allowed him to essentially play the part of a good fighter, which made it seem like he defeat even a decent huntsman as a result of skill, at first glance. So the prospect of someone being able to learn an instrument ontop of training must've astounded her. "When did you find the time for something like that alongside training to become a huntsman? Can you play anything else?"

"Yep. I can play the piano and violin aswell. Also, where'd I find the time to play? I just kinda...y'know, spent an hour or so on each of them a week. I'm no grand master with a piano or the violin, but I can play practically everything on them pretty well. The electric guitar isn't anything much more than a regular one, so that helped when I was learning that."

"Why'd you want to learn them?" The red-clad reaper to his right questioned.

"Well, my mum got me into playing the piano when I was a kid. She reckoned that I could probably get good enough to go pro. She once told me about how she pictured me playing to an audience in a stadium full of thousands upon thousands of people. Though, she probably also pictured me with some beautiful opera singer or something, knowing her." Leo somehow didn't even notice that Weiss had immediately looked away from him as he finished his first portion of reminiscing.

"What about the violin?" Pyrrha asked.

"Hmm? Oh, that was for my little sister. She loved to play the violin, but one day when she was little, her and dad got into a pretty nasty car accident. Dad was in hospital for about a month after that. Because of that, she started to occasionally have nightmares about it. Long story short, we eventually figured out that if someone is playing the violin to her as she falls asleep then she wouldn't have any. And, after figuring out that just recordings of a violin wouldn't work, I decided to learn how to play."

The table was silent for a few moments, before Yang eventually spoke up. "And whats the story behind the guitars?"

"Oh, god. Alright, so. When I was...Fourteen, I think, my older sister wanted me to learn how to play the electric guitar for her band, because she was the only one who knew how to play the electric guitar but she wanted to play the drums, and nobody else in the group wanted to learn. She just ended up dragging me into it. She said that she was doing me a favour by teaching me, saying that it'd be 'totally badass' if I knew how to play properly.-"

"-My dad, on the other hand, gave me his old guitar for my twelfth birthday, he told me that the guitar was pretty much the perfect instrument, which isn't all too far from the truth in my opinion. I didn't really put much effort into it at first, considering how I already had both the violin and the piano. That and I kept having trouble...somehow. Eventually, my grandfather decided to help me out by teaching me a few things, which actually helped alot."

And with everyone's questions seemingly answered, Leo went back to both eating his meal, which began to taste more like ash in his mouth as he thought about the times when his real grandad, not the fake deity one, was helping him out with the guitar, who laughed every. single. time that Little Leo got frustrated. Needless to say, he laughed alot.

The feeling of remembrance was a bittersweet thing, one that managed to bring a sad smile to the Mage's face.

After finishing his meal, Leo followed teams RWBY and NPR back to their dorms, where Pyrrha went in and got Jaune's guitar. "Thanks. I'll bring it back when I'm done, okay? I just wanna sing a song or two."

"Of course." The evidently distracted redhead replied before slowly closing the door after looking down either side of the hallway with a concerned look on her face, probably to see if Jaune was there. As she closed the door, a rather surprised Valkyrie shouted at him "You can sing ,too?!"

Leo was just about to turn as the sound of a door being opened caught his attention, Weiss was standing across from him with a thoughtful look on her face. The two simply stared at each other for a moment before the heiress eventually spoke up. She started by nodding respectfully first, which was completely unnecessary. "If you're going to be singing, would you mind if I were to listen? I... wish to see how skilled you are."

After thinking for a moment, Leo nodded and began his 1 door trek to his dorm with a mildly expectant heiress trailing behind.

Leo decided that they should probably leave the door open, when Weiss questioned him about it, Leo came up with what would soon become her worst fear. "Well, what if, say Yang, walks by and hears you and me in this room with the door shut? Wouldn't that send some pretty bad messages?"

After promptly embarressing the white-haired heiress, the mage moved over to Sit down on the edge of his bed before pulling out his laptop from the top shelf of his window-height bookcase. He had remembered to carry his solar charger with him the day that he got sent to Remnant. He had also luckily managed to bring his 1Tb hard drive that was absolutely full of various movies, games, music and other assorted things of that ilk. He had also brought a wireless mouse with rechargable batteries that could fit into his solar charger. Because fuck off, trackpad!

Obviously, the laptop looked pretty alien to Weiss, though she refrained from saying about it, instead preferring to talk about something else. "So, Leo. You said you had designed that sword you showed everyone earlier off of your grandfather's one. Was he a huntsman?"

'Oh fuck...umm...how do I play this...? All huntsman have records, right? I'll just play it safe.'

Leo stopped scrolling through the endless abyss of music that was his playlist and made eye contact with the heiress in question. "Not officially, no. Though I'd wager that he could easily send a full team of full-time huntsman running for their lives like it was as big of an issue to him as having to hang out slightly more washing than usual." Leo turned back to his laptop without waiting for a reply, eventually coming across what he thought to be the perfect song for his current situation, "Here we go, this song will do."

"What's it called?" The now-curious heiress questioned.

Leo turned back to her as he opened his mouth to reply, only to come face-to-face with a wild Nora. "HEY LEO!"

Leo had to physically restrain himself from firing an instinctive bolt of lightning at the tiny ginger, as he quickly realised that would only serve to both enrage and empower her. "AAHH!"

The Valkyrie turned and happily skipped back over to...Ren? "When did you guys all get here?"

In the time that he had reacted from the sudden appearance of Nora, both RWBY and NPR had already made themselves at home in his dorm, with Yang looking around at the undecorated room disapprovingly. "Sparks...you reeeallly need to decorate this place."

That was true...the room only had a few books on the various shelves and nothing that wasn't already supplied by Beacon in his room, though Nora evidently didn't care. "Who cares about that, Yang? Tell us about your grandad!"

"Sure, but one question real quick. Why are you all here?" In all honesty, Leo didn't really mind that they were in his room, nor did he really care enough to demand an answer from them. But he did need time to think about what his 'grandad's' semblance would be, considering how he had just bragged about his power a bit too much.

Before Yang could reply with what would've probably been an excuse, Blake decided to butt in. "Yang wanted to hear you play the guitar, she said she'd also like to hear you sing. Saying that Weiss got to, so why couldn't she?" Blake wasn't lying about that either, if Yang's glare was anything to go by.

Nora, though, was alot more honest than the brawler. "Eh. Our reason is pretty much the same. Pyrrha was curious how good you are with the guitar and me and Ren wanted to hear you sing. Now, though...GRANDAD STORY, NOW!"

Leo sat there for a moment in thought, 'Fuck! I said he was a complete badass, so what would a badass semblance be?...Wait a sec, what if he was basically the psycho fall maiden, Cinder, except less megalomaniac..? Or a pyromancer from Dark Souls? That'd be awesome.'

"Alright, alright. Well, his semblance was...kinda like mine, actually. Except he had complete control over fire. He called it 'The First Flame', and with it, he could do pretty much anything. He could completely incinerate massive grimm like they were made of newspaper, he could create fires that healed you if you were close to them by putting his aura into the source of the flames, he could even melt metal and rock like they were nothing. So... yeah. He was an old guy with a versatile semblance and a LOT of whiskey. He had alot of time to master it, too...the semblance, not the whiskey. To most people, it'd look like magic, actually."

That silenced the room for a moment, until Nora burst out laughing. "There's no such thing as magic, silly! Now! Play us whichever song you were gonna play!"

'...Mustn't...Talk...About...Future...or myself, actually... Okay, I'm good.'

Turning back to his music playlist, Leo looked to the left side of the screen and eyes widened upon seeing just how many songs he had. 'Oh yeah...everyone in the family decided to help me out with making this...even grandad and grandma threw in a few songs of their own...' The mage chuckled silently to himself as he remembered the look on his Grandma's face when his grandad, that being the real one and not the deity in his cover story, said some his suggestions.

Leo stared at the name of a song that he both knew off-by-heart and definitely fitted the mood he was in quite well.

After taking a sec to tune Jaune's guitar accordingly and spending some more time to find a variant of said song that didn't have the guitar or the vocals, the mage shuffled down to the end of his bed and began to play his own version of his favourite song, though it's lyrics had a pretty different meaning from what they used to, even more so since he said his 'grandad' could control fire, though that would only have any real meaning to the other seven students.

Starset- Point of no Return Acoustic

 _There's a memory of how we used to be_

 _That I can see through the flames_

 _I am hypnotized as I fantasize_

 _Forgetting strife and pain_

 _But I can't go back_

Though he started out like he usually does. His guitar strummed every note perfectly and his voice had gone from it's usual hint of gruffness to being almost as clear as a crystal. Even Weiss seemed surprised as to how good he was.

 _The ashes call my name_

He remembered what the god had told him. How his family thought he was dead and were mourning him. 'That line sure is fitting...'. At this point, Leo had pretty much forgotten that either team was even in the room, instead focusing on three things: The chords, The lyrics and most importantly and prominently, the memories.

 _Pouring the fuel, fanning the flames_

 _Breaking the habit and melting the chains_

 _Embracing the fear, chasing the fight_

 _The glow of the fire will light up the night_

 _The bridges are burning, the heat's on my face_

 _Making the past an unreachable place_

 _Pouring the fuel, fanning the flames_

 _I know this is the point of no return_

Leo blinked a few times to get the tears that had been welling out of his eyes, Ruby noticed this and lightly slapped Yang's arm to get her to pay attention, as she was still looking around the room wtih contempt for the lack of decor. The brawler looked slightly annoyed at her sister for a moment before seeing the look on Leo's face as he stared at the ground, his gaze fixed on a random spot in between the feet of the two teams.

 _It's uncontrollable, such a beautiful desire_

 _There's something sinister about the way it hurts_

 _When I watch it burn (Higher and higher)_

 _Because I can't go back_

His voice almost cracked as he said the final word of that verse, though he managed to hold strong. He shook his head along with blinking a few more times to get rid of the tears. everyone had pretty solemn looks on their faces at this point, even Nora looked depressed.

 _The ashes call my name_

A lone tear streaked down the left side of his face. Leo's eye twitched slightly as the chorus came up. He suddenly felt angry at himself. He hadn't bothered to actually tell the god directly that he wanted to get sent back to his family, plus he had agreed with this in the first place!

Despite the song being better suited to a slightly quieter voice, Leo roared the chorus with a voice that was constantly threatening to break, as if he were a weakened lion...either that, or he thought he was in a rock concert, though the former is more likely.

 _Pouring the fuel, fanning the flames_

 _Breaking the habit and melting the chains_

 _Embracing the fear, chasing the fight_

 _The glow of the fire will light up the night_

 _The bridges are burning, the heat's on my face_

 _Making the past an unreachable place_

 _Pouring the fuel, fanning the flames_

 _I know this is the point of no return_

A few tears trickled slowly down his face as he sang. His voice suddenly becoming filled with defiance and strength.

 _I won't turn around_

 _No, I won't turn around_

As he sang the second line, the defiance and strength that was in his voice wavered slightly, Making everyone's hearts drop.

 _'cause I can't turn around_

His voice cracked as he crumbled over the last line of the verse. Tears streamed freely down his face at this point, he didn't even try to stop their advance. Leo was singing with the raw emotion that had completely overwhelmed him, muscle memory from having played this song so much when he was back on Earth was the only reason he was still playing as well as he was.

 _Pouring the fuel, fanning the flames_

 _Breaking the habit and melting the chains_

 _Embracing the fear, chasing the fight_

 _The glow of the fire will light up the night_

 _The bridges are burning, the heat's on my face_

 _Making the past an unreachable place_

 _Pouring the fuel, fanning the flames_

 _I know this is the point of no return_

 _This is the point of no return_

 _This is the point of no return_

He had agreed to be taken away from his family. So why did it hurt so much?

Leo sat the guitar down against the edge of the bed and simply stayed on the foot of his bed. After a few shaky breaths and about 15 seconds, the mage looked over to Weiss, who was pretty much shell-shocked. "So...how'd I do?

Before anyone could answer, the autoplay function on his playlist started the next song. Due to a function on his laptop, the name of the song was said before giving him about 30 seconds to tune his guitar accordingly. He used the function for when he just wanted to play and sing songs without having to constantly go back and forth, pressing the pause button and such. "Oh hell yeah..."

The song was one of his personal favourites, immediately lifting his spirits. It was also his grandad's second favourite song, "Country roads, Take me home."

This glorious song was second only to "On the road again" in his grandfather's books. Which what was played at his funeral about 6 months prior.

Everyone seemed pretty confused for a moment after hearing the name of the song and suddenly seeing a smile appear on the previously-crying mage's face as he quickly re-tuned the guitar. They quickly realised that he was still sorta crying, he was just happy about this song for some reason. 'Oh, if only they knew the eternal glory that is this song. What better way to get rid of sad, sappy feelings than with...well, bittersweet will have to do at this point.'

Though Leo's voice was still a bit shaky, he was slowly coming to terms with everything again in the proper way, rather than just having a breakdown to Weiss on his first day and then burying those memories under a steel vault of 'no'.

(You should all know this song. Don't worry, it's the last one for awhile.)

 _Almost heaven, West Virginia_

 _Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River_

 _Life is old there, older than the trees_

 _Younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze_

Nobody had any clue about what in the hell he was singing about, considering how none of these places existed in Remnant, though they didn't exactly seem to mind, considering how his skills witha guitar and the clarity and emotion that filled his voice made the lyrics almost inconsequential.

 _Country roads, take me home_

 _To the place I belong_

 _West Virginia, mountain mamma_

 _Take me home, country roads_

Though none of them knew what a 'West Virginia' was, the song and the bittersweet smile on his face, accompanied by how his voice seemed to somehow lift their spirits, everyone seemed quite content to listen.

 _I hear their voice in the morning hour they calls me_

 _The radio reminds me of my home far away_

 _Walkin down the road I get a feeling_

 _That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday_

Despite the tears that continued to roll down his face, which Ruby had already copied and Pyrrha was close to doing as well, Leo had a beaming smile on his face while he sang with vigour, said smile quickly became infectious as Nora realised that a Chorus was coming up and sang along as well as she could.

 _Country roads, take me home_

 _To the place I belong_

 _West Virginia, mountain mamma_

 _Take me home, country roads_

 _Country roads, take me home_

 _To the place I belong_

 _West Virginia, mountain mamma_

 _Take me home, country roads_

Though there was no way he could ever go home, he, at the very least, just had to remember where he used to belong. Remember and move on, rather than bury and forget.

 _Take me home, country roads_

 _Take me home, country roads_

And with that, the song ended almost as soon as it started, leaving everyone quite shocked, aside from Leo and Nora who had content smiles on their faces.

That was, until Nora gasped loudly. "I have an idea!"

Everyone turned to the now-beaming Valkyire as she continued. "Leo... should join our team! We'd be great! Beacon's first '5 man team'!"

While the other six seemed pretty content with this idea, aside from Weiss who was probably thinking that the headmaster wouldn't allow it, Leo's face dropped into a deadpanned look. "Why?"

Nora leaned forward with one hand on her hip and the other pointing at him accusingly. "Well...! You, mister, are sad! And with us, you won't be sad!" She ended her statement by standing up straight and putting her hands on her hips in some sort of 'hero' pose.

Leo tried to come up with some reply, but was quickly shut down by the Valkyrie. "No but's, mister! We're going to the headmaster to make this official! I can see the headlines now! 'Beacon gets worlds first 5 man team! Ren makes Nora a million pancakes!...please?'" As she was making the statement about the pancakes, she struck a side-eyed glance at the monk in question, who simply sighed.

"No, Nora. It's far too late for pancakes."

While the two continued their back and forth discussion of simple 'No, but!' and 'No, Nora.', Leo tried to think of any way to get out of this. 'I can't be too close to the events of the show, otherwise I'm gonna mess some things up. Then again, team JNPR don't really do that much, in terms of large-scale events at Beacon, that is. They just kinda show up for team RWBY's backup...but can I survive Nora?...And is me just being here messing things up already?'

A quick glance over to Nora told him no. He could not survive Nora.

Luckily, Yang noticed his visible distress and gave him a second option, which probably fitted some sort of secret agenda she had. "You could join them...ooooorrrr...you could join us! Whadd'ya say, Sparks?"

Looking around at the two teams, none of whom decided to tell him otherwise. This left Leo to weigh his options.

'If I join team RWBY, I risk messing up the events of the show, which I'm possibly doing anyways. I also wouldn't be allowed to fight in the Vytal tournament, which I really want to do, because being on Cinder's shit-list seems fun, considering how I know that I will be able to fucking decimate her by Vol 3...if I keep levelling up and getting stats like I am now, which... might not be the case if this semblance works like every RPG does... I also get to be closer to each of them...which would be nice, I must admit.'

'If I join team JNPR. No Vytal fights, I would still get closer to all 8 of them at a lowered risk of messing the show's events up. But...I really don't think either I or Nora would survive a single week. She'd die, or I'd die via self-inflicted lightning suicide.'

'I could just say no...Which nobody would accept easily by the looks on their faces. It might drive me away from them, which is bad. I'd get to fight at the tournament and get on Cinder's personal shit-list by absolutely decimating an entire team with what would be nothing less than an unecessary amount of electricity. But as Nora puts it, "I'll be sad"...and I don't think she's exactly wrong. Being near people generally helps with this kinda stuff, right?.'

After a few more moments, Leo decided to not go for the third option that he had proposed to himself. "Fine. I'll talk to Ozpin about teams. Would anyone mind if I were to join either one of your teams?"

Ruby was the first to speak up. "It'd be fine by me! Cause your all like..'Zap! Zoom! Kapow when it comes to fighting...Plus! I could help you with your sword! And you could show me how to go really fast like you did when you fought Cardin." When she made the sound effects, she began making various karate motions.

Turning to Weiss, her response was expected. Cold and reasoning, but obviously had reasons aside from what's logical. "It's inconsiderate of the headmaster to leave you in a dorm by yourself. It would be easier to help you with your studies as well, I suppose. Considering how you definitely need the extra help." Leo wasn't really bad at study or stupid by any means. He just couldn't read the language when he got to Beacon and...knew...nothing about aura and pretty much everything to do...with Remnant, okay yeah, he really needed the help.

Blake's response was also nothing beyond what he imagined. "I don't mind."

Finally for team RWBY, Yang grinned and crossed her arms. "If you don't try anything shifty and you think you can handle it, It'd be fine by me, Sparks."

Seeing how her team was swiftly being overpowered in this 'political debate', Nora quickly began her team's reasoning for why he should join them. "No! Join us! You're semblance is totally AWESOME with mine, we'd be unstoppable! Plus, Ren makes pancakes~~! Pyrrha's a total BADASS! I'm me! and Jaune is...Well, he's really good at making battle plans!"

Pyrrha's response was a refreshing difference when compared to Nora's pleading. "Either way, I certainly have no issue with you joining us."

All he got from Ren was a simple nod. "I'm alright with it. And as Nora said, I make pancakes."

'Oh yeah...pancakes...wait no, that'd end up with me and Nora literially battling over the final pancake...And I wouldn't be able to zap her to stun her so I could finish it off, cause she'd only get stronger...'

Everyone stared at Leo as he seemingly weighed his options, eventually taking a deep breath before giving his answer. "I'll...I can't decide. How about this, I'll probably have an answer for you all tomorrow, okay? Plus, I'm kinda tired, and Jaune hasn't even given his vote yet, I don't wanna insult him by potentially joining his team before asking it's leader."

A resounding "AWWWWWW" filled the room as the louder ones out of both teams looked incredibly disappointed, though they all quickly got over it and, after a quick threat from Nora and another from Yang about how the final pancake was hers while the latter said how he wouldn't last long if he tried anything shifty, both teams went back to their respective dorms.

Suddenly feeling quite tired, Leo, having given the guitar to Pyrrha, couldn't play any more songs.

So, after checking his skills to see that he had levelled his singing and instrument skills a bit,

 _*Passive skill: Sing song (Level 42)_

 _You are pretty good at singing. While your voice isn't exactly that of an angel's, you can certainly sing a song at what many would consider a professional level._

 _*Passive skill: The Piano Man (Level 71)_

 _For your entire life, you have been surrounded by your own melodies. You can play many instruments to the point of near mastery, if only your voice was that good..._

Leo simply shut his door, turned off his laptop and went to bed.

* * *

 **END:**

 **I have written faaaar too much in these notes. umm, readers beware beyond this point...?**

 **I apologise for the unnecessary amount of Leo crying and singing songs like some rather skilled child. I felt like I hadn't done a very good job of him getting over the last 17 years of his life just dissappearing, so this is an attempt...hopefully it's good**

 **Please don't mind the unecessary amounts of cursing in the chapters and notes. (Do I need to change the rating for those? What do the ratings even mean?)**

 **Some notes, or...messages? screw it, this ain't a fuckin library, is the Fuckin news! (I hope someone gets that reference)**

 **For those who didn't assume, he's gonna be joining RWBY. I've also got no real plans aside from following the series's episodes with maybe a chapter of 'Getting to know you' or what would just be off-screen stuff (Like him making his weapon) in between.**

 **I apologise if the writing is bad. (I now what you're thinking: (Well, I don't know what you're thinking, but, y'know. (I know! I've put a set of brackets in a set of brackets in a set of brackets!...I really need sleep at this point!) ...Yeah.) Here comes the usual excuse that you see on every...Fucking...Fanfic about how 'I'm new to this! Please don't hate!'. No, If I've Fucked up something fierce with my writing to the point where it's either confusing you greatly or causing you genuine pain to read, Please tell me. I need to improve, so I will.**

 **Also! I'm probably gonna end up making this a Weiss or maybe a Yang pairing (Maybe Neo though, if it is demanded by the entire population of China.). As I was writing this, I was thinking about the various possibilities, and here's what I've got as my reasons for not picking certain ones:**

 **Ruby: Already possibility for either Oscar or Jaune in the series (Which I want to keep as canon as possible). Also, NO JAILBAIT!**

 **Weiss: Most likely candidate, mainly because Rooster Teeth have looked at everyone with confused expressions while saying "Team SSSN? The fuck's a...Neptune?". (Also, I have various future plans for this possibility)**

 **Blake: She's either gonna have a harem or pick someone for herself, so no.**

 **Yang: Possibility. (Much like with Weiss, I have some plans for this idea) Though she might end up with Blake in the series, so I'm not too sure about that.**

 **Nora: Ren...that's enough said.**

 **Pyrrha: Arkos!**

 **Velvet: Her team goes to Vacuo after the fall of Beacon (If various people haven't lied to me about some new book thats coming out sometime around 'Whenever the fuck', that is.), so there's no real point, considering that I want this to go past the fall of Beacon.**

 **Coco: Despite how they both have a sense of style and are total badasses, they have no real reason to get to know each other, aside from maybe through Velvet.**

 **Penny: Why would he be with Penny? He knows she's a robot and would still wanna smash? NO.**

 **Neo: Somehow, I feel like it...just wouldn't work out. With her being a complete psycho and all. Though, if the entire population of China demand it, then I might. (Minor possibility)**

 **Salem: You'd better fuckin believe it! This, IS NOW A SALEM PAIRING. (Obvious sarcasm)**

 **Old man Shopkeep:...I'm gonna go to bed now. (Not with the old man shopkeep!)**

 **Also! I know that I've technically changed the series in this by adding ya boi Leo, but I don't wanna change too much from what Rooster Teeth have as 'official'. (I have a crippling fear that they'll bust down my door and take my kidneys if I go too far from whats canon.)**


	4. Chapter 4: Beacon's only

**Due to my indecisiveness, I'm gonna let you guys vote on whether this should be a pairing fanfic or not. (Yes or No)**

 **If there is a pairing, then it's gonna take a backseat to the actual storyline and will either be Weiss or Yang, though its more likely gonna be Weiss rather than Yang.**

 **If you completely despise how I've written something with an absolute burning passion, please tell me.**

 **Chapter 4: Beacon's First...**

* * *

Leo's eyes slowly cracked open as the morning light crept through his curtains, after taking a moment to make sure he was awake, the Mage's eyes focused onto the popup infront of him.

 _*Tutorial complete!_

 _After showing adept understanding in both your abilities and the world around you, the tutorial stage has ended._

 _*You have shown incredible competence with your abilities...too much for your current status._

 _All unspent stat points have been removed. 'OH COME ON!'_

 _You lost 3 STR points._

 _You lost 8 DEX points._

 _You lost 2 END points._

 _You lost 15 INT points._

 _You lost 20 WIS points.  
-_

Leo felt his eye twitch in anger. 'Are you...fucking kidding me?!'

Seemingly sensing how he was one step away from nuking Remnant, Leo's semblance decided to give him the good news fast.

 _To counteract the loss of your other stats, your Charisma and Vitality stats have gone up!_

 _You got 2 VIT points to help you cope with the loss of other stats!_

 _You got 14 CHA points to help you cope with the loss of other stats!_

 _Tutorial buffs being removed...Removed!_

 _You have grown accustomed to life in Remnant, thus losing the title of 'Outsider' which raised EXP gains by 200%_

 _You lost doubled HP regen rate._

 _Stat gains are now reduced._

"well, that sucks...At least I get some more health and more Charisma. Those Brexit negotiations would be a piece of goddamn cake." Leo muttered as he navigated over to the stats screen so he could properly inspect the true extent of his new situation.

 _Leo Helios (level 21)_

 _Titles; "The Storm"_

 _Semblance: 'g'ods Gift (The 'Gamer')_

 _Age 17_

 _Gender: Male_

 _Height: 7"3_

 _HP: 250/250_

 _MP: 300/300_

 _Aura level: 100%_

 _Unspent Stat points: 0_

 _STR: 30 (Physical Strength)_

 _DEX: 20 (Physical Agility, Other Miscellaneous things associated with Dexterity.)_

 _END: 25 (HP regen, Physical Endurance)_

 _VIT: 25 (Max HP)_

 _INT: 25 (Spell damage, MP regen)_

 _WIS: 30 (Max MP)_

 _CHA: 34 (Ability to convince others. Affects Speech Stat.)_

"My stats are...Actually pretty balanced right now. Does that god guy want me to have a balanced skillset?"

As Leo glared angrily at his weaker, yet balanced stats, he was suddenly torn from his own personal world of repressed anger and pure hatred by another popup.

"Huh? a popup message from...is this the Deity who sent me here? Probably."

 _*You have: 6 messages from: Ancius_

 _-Message 1 reads: "Hey kid. You've done well so far, but we can't have you getting overly strong and completely destroying Salem's plans so soon, now can we?...no, we can't. You wouldn't even get to find out the true story on both sides otherwise, so I removed some of your stats. Sorry 'bout that. I just want you to see which side you should pick, because I can take away your free will so you CAN have free will (Ozpin is gonna try manipulate you, I picked you because you're smart enough to know how to avoid that)"_

 _-Message 2 reads: "P.S: I noticed how your whole 'family' thing was kinda tearing you up, and I know that you're getting used to it...Buuuuut, I would assume it'd be nice to have something from home. Look at the top of your bookshelf, I left a gift that I thought you'd appreciate."_

Looking over to the window-height bookshelf, Leo noticed an azure blue ring box. "Is that...?!"

 _-Message 3 reads: "P.P.S: The reason I'm not going to give you any more dreams where you show up in my world is because It takes way too long and a ridiculous amount of energy to set up. Plus, I have other things to do other than babysit you. So I'll just leave a message or two from time to time. It's just more convenient."_

 _-Message 4 reads: "P.P.P.S: "That gift is all you're getting from your old life. Turns out there's this asshat who calls himself 'God, but with a big G' overseeing Earth. He reeaally doesn't like me, I mean reeaallly doesn't like me...Wonder why...Maybe because I took someone who he had already blessed from a world that he created...Anyways, I'm not going to bother killing him, it'd take too long and I wouldn't gain anything from it, so that one thing I got you will have to do. The prick even threw a lightning bolt at me when I went to go get your ring!"_

 _-Message 5 reads: "P.P.P.P.S: "I like that design for your sword! Also, the spell creation thing gets harder to use depending on how many spells you've already made with it, fair warning. Oh, also, when I said you got blessed by El asshat 'God' in my last message, I mean that he intended to turn you into one of his warriors for some war with this 'Satan' guy...yeah. So basically, you were already pretty strong, smart and talented with practically everything, you literally pick new info up as easily as I pick up random souls because of that. This's also the reason why you've picked up on magic so easily, cause you're literally built to be able to handle otherworldly powers."_

 _-Message 6 reads: "P.P.P.P.P.S: "I'm the deity who sent you here, by the way. If you didn't guess that already, then I should probably send you back to that dipshit, 'God' and watch you die in his pitiful war while I sit back eating a bucket of popcorn...just kidding! I don't eat popcorn, or at all. What was this message about? Oh, right, I've basically already made my own cover story as your 'badass grandfather', so there's no need to worry about that. Nice idea for a semblance by the way, Pyromancy. That's exactly what I knew my chosen champion would pick, so my cover story is pretty mysterious and...fire-filled. Good luck."_

"I wonder what he gets up to in his spare time aside from harassing other gods? Wait...God wanted ME to go and fight Satan? Thank god 'but with a little g' for that...actually no...Thanks Ancius." Leo said to nobody in particular as he thought about how a fight with Satan would end. Turning his head, the mage stared at the blue ringbox for a moment before reaching out to grab it.

As he carefully flipped open the lid, Leo's amber-orange eyes glowed yellow in the morning light as they reflected the light of the Helios family ring.

The ring had been in his family for generations. It, along with the family name, were old enough to hold a family motto, which most families don't bother with nowadays. The ring also connected Leo to the final memory of his grandfather, That being who the Mage had looked up to for his entire life.

It was made out of 24k polished gold, holding a square flat faceplate with an equally golden circular sun that took up the majority of the centre. The gold that made up the sun was merely an outline of the celestial body, as it's inner was filled with carved orange topaz that reflected the light in some way, no matter which angle it was held at.

Around the outside of the sun, his family motto was engraved. "Have Faith, for Faith brings Power. Even the Darkest of Evil's shall crumble and fade when faced with our Light. The Light of Helios."

He simply stared at the ring for a few moments with a genuine smile planted onto his face. He previously thought that he had lost pretty much everything that connected him to his family and Earth. Yet here, in his palm, sat a ring that is both the embodiment of his family and his memories of the man who he had always seen as a Hero.

His grandfather had given him the ring the last time they spoke. The 83 year-old had died of a heart attack only days later. Leo had kept the ring in its box at home so it wouldn't get damaged, meaning it wasn't on him when he was transported to Remnant.

"Thanks Deit- I mean, thanks Ancius." With that small grin still embedded onto his face, Leo slipped the ring onto his right middle finger before equipping his school uniform via inventory and making his way to the cafeteria for breakfast.

In the cafeteria, Jaune half-heartedly said that it would be fine if he were to join JNPR, though the Mage eventually decided to join team RWBY, which the four members promptly accepted.

Though a particular Valkyrie wasn't exactly a fan of the idea of him not joining her team. "AWW, C'MON!" Nora wailed. "I CAME UP WITH THE IDEA..."

Then she had an almost comical breakdown, in which a small puddle of tears quickly formed around her head, which she had just slammed into the table.

After her initial celebration, Yang's gaze was swiftly drawn to a certain piece of jewellery that a particular mage now sported. "Hey, Sparks. What's up with the ring? Fancy~"

"Hmm? Oh, right. This was my grandfather's ring. Well, it's the family ring, but he gave it to me, partially because he couldn't be bothered to decide who to give it to in his will. It even has the family motto on it." Leo answered proudly as he held up his hand, happy to show off the gold and topaz sun ring that currently rested on his right middle finger.

Now other's were intrigued, Ruby seemed quite enraptured by the ornate ring, Weiss did too. The former of which was quite blunt about it. "OOOO, What's your motto?"

Though the latter, that being the heiress, was alot more formal about it. "I must admit, I'm rather curious aswell. What IS the Helios family motto?"

Leo placed his palm down on the table, everyone could see how the cut topaz sun reflected the light with glimmering brilliance. "The family motto is...Have faith, for Faith brings Power. Even the Darkest of Evil's shall crumble and fade when faced with our Light. The light of Helios."

Everyone seemed pretty stunned at that, judging by the resounding "Woah" that came from almost everyone. Nora seemed the most enthusiastic about it. "THAT'S SO BADASS!" She roared, with her previous breakdown seeming like it never even happened, even the miniature ocean of tears that was previously pooled around her had vanished.

"Thanks. Now, if only I could use fire like my grandfather instead of lightning, I'd be set..." Leo mused to himself. 'I may as well occasionally do things like this while seeming like I'm deep in thought. It practically screams to people: I can't use magic, only lightning!'

After repeated attempts at petty thievery from Nora, in which the Valkyrie eventually relented, Leo and the rest had finished their respective breakfasts. "Alright!" Yang spoke as she crashed her fists together. "Let's go get the headmaster to let you join our team!"

During the awkward but inevitable elevator ride, Leo realised something. 'Of course I'll be allowed to join. Having a literal Mage and a silver-eyed huntress in the same team, along with three others that directly interest him? This is practically guaranteed to work.'

He grinned slightly at that fact before realising something else. 'Oooh shiiiit...I told him I was a Wizard...He's gonna wanna have a talk about that, isn't he?'

His questions were answered when the elevator reached the top and the door opened. Ozpin smiled when he noticed the 4 girls, but that smile instantly faded into a blank, calculating stare when he saw the Mage standing in the back of the elevator. 'Yeeep. He's gonna want to have a chat...I feel like that EXP wasn't worth it...'

Ozpin cleared his throat before giving off a welcoming smile as they entered his office, which only served to make Leo even more uneasy. "Team RWBY, Mr Helios. To what do I owe the pleasure of such an unexpected visit by five of Beacon's most promising first-years?"

The group shot glances at each other for a moment before a nervous Ruby, in an attempt to play team leader no less, took a step forward. "Weeelll, you see, headmaster...We, kinda deciiided...that..." Ruby trailed off as Ozpin put the pieces together, obviously seeing where this was going.

Before their stuttering leader could embarrass herself any further, Yang boldly took a step forward, though she too seemed a bit nervous about speaking to the headmaster, who's gaze was hardening by the second. "We want Leo to join our team. He's getting lonely and sad, and we ain't gonna let one of our friends be sad."

That actually shocked the grey-haired man slightly. "Oh? Mr Helios? Is your lack of a team having such a detrimental effect on you?" His tone was slightly curious, but not all worried or concerned for the boy, he just sounded cold. He had evidently thought about Leo's words from their previous conversation and they only served to make him more on-edge.

The aspiring Mage took a step forward and locked eyes with the ancient Wizard. "Well, it isn't so much that not having a team is bad for me, headmaster. It's just...Let's just say that I've had a few...family issues recently, which is what's been pretty bad. RWBY and JNPR offered for me to join one of their teams, but they probably wouldn't have let me say no...-"

"Damn right we wouldnt've!" Yang called out from her hiding place behind her partner...wait, when did she move behind Blake? Did she move there to get away from Ozpin's gaze?...'that isn't that surprising, considering how he looks like he's trying to bore a hole in my skull with nothing but laser vision.'

"Family...issues?" The headmaster's eyes widened for a moment before he silently started tapping away at his desk, which quickly ended up on a list of student profiles.

Ozpin seemed genuinely confused as a holographic screen of his 'relatives' appeared. Or...well...relative, that is.

Only his 'cover-story grandfather' was listed, which Ozpin promptly clicked onto.

The profile of his 'grandfather' was a minimum one at best. 'Holy fuck, he actually has a profile... How long has this deity had my appearance planned out? Or at least an Earthling's appearance, that is.'

Despite the bare-bones profile, there was actually a photo of him...Well, there is the faint silhouette of a man in the middle of an almost nuclear-sized firestorm with hundreds of disintegrating Grimm of all types around him.

Yang, along with the rest of team RWBY was in absolute awe of the photo. "Woah..." The buxom brawler muttered. "Is that your grandpa?"

Leo squinted for a moment, as if to show he was trying to make out some details. "I...maybe. I can't really tell, I know he can make firestorms bigger than that, though." Leo had said that he couldn't tell, just in case Ozpin had simply changed his 'grandfathers' photo to something completely unrelated and made Leo look stupid for lying  
-

 _*Apollo "The God of the Sun" Helios (Deceased)_

 _Unregistered Huntsman-level Nomad_

 _Height: Around 6ft. Approximate height unknown_

 _Age: Unknown_

 _Weapons: Unknown/ None?_

 _Aura Levels: SS+_

 _Combat Level: S+_

 _Semblance control: SSS+_

 _Semblance: "Sun God": Absolute Pyromancy which has grown in strength to become on-par with the strongest weapons in Remnant in his old age._

 _Potential threat level: SSS+? (Officially, Apollo ranks as an Anomaly in terms of human potential threat level, as his full strength is completely unknown.)_

 _Cause of death: Unknown_

 _Time of death: Unknown_

 _Place of death: Unknown (Corpse has not been found. Confirmed by reliable intelligence to be deceased.)_

 _Relatives: Unknown son (Unknown). Unknown Wife (Unknown). Grandson: Leo Helios (Alive. Currently attending Beacon academy). Other relatives: Unknown (Unknown)_

 _Description: well-kept mop of grey hair that shines blonde upon use of semblance, stormy grey eyes that shine bright orange upon use of semblance. Unassuming'Average old man who's managed to stay fit' build. Personality is that of a simple Wise old man who loves to laugh and have a beer, though has been reported to be a fan of 'tough love' as a way to inspire discipline, though not to an 'abusive' level. Has once claimed that he has a 'Hero's complex', meaning he will protect anybody with his life, this 'Hero's complex' may be able to be passed down to his offspring. (Further observation of existing offspring required)._

 _Extras: "UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD ANYONE ENGAGE THIS MONSTER IN COMBAT!" -Unknown._

 _No real history of this man exists aside from his sudden and seemingly random appearances over the years._

 _Reasons for appearance: Unknown  
-_

Everyone in the room could see both the Profile and the ashen look on Leo's face. Many of the traits held by his 'cover-story grandfather' were the same as his real grandad's. Such as how the name 'Apollo' was similar to his actual one of 'Paulo'. The height of 6ft, the stormy grey eyes (Which were technically a greyed-blue), the well-kept mop of grey hair that used to be blonde, and the fact that he is both a happy wise oldie and how he is a slight fan of tough love. 'Thanks Ancius...should I still think of him as the deity guy, or is using his name appropriate?-huh?'

Leo was driven from his thought's by a tiny red reaper that had just latched herself to his side. Her head was buried into his side as well, so he couldn't see her face, but he guessed that she was crying. "Ruby, I'm fine. There's no need for a hug."

The Reaper looked up at him with the beginnings of tears in her eyes. The two stared at each other for a moment before Ruby nodded and detached herself. "Anyways, headmaster...Will I be allowed to make this team a 5-er?"

The headmaster was still staring at the profile of his 'grandfather' in shock. He continued to stare for a few more moments before turning back to the group. "Ahem...Well, I certainly see no real issues with it. Team RWBY, Congratulations, you are now Beacon's only 5 person team..." Leo couldn't stop the smile that was swiftly forming on his face, even the usually expressionless Blake held a small grin of her own.

Before Ruby and Yang could start celebrating, Ozpin raised a hand to silence them. "-Though this does raise a few complications of its own, which I would prefer to discuss with Mr. Helios in private, if you four wouldn't mind." Though he had technically said a question, his tone left no room for argument. "I recommend you go to your first class for today. This will only take a few minutes..."

'Ooooohhh, fuck...I really messed up by accepting that quest that told me to mess with him a bit...didn't I?' The worried Mage had to give it his all to not crack a grin when his semblance confirmed this.  
-

 _*Quest: You'd better believe it Bucko!_

 _You accepted a Quest without thinking of consequences, now...Let's just hope he doesn't try to magic you into oblivion, or that you can survive...or lie._

 _Quest steps: Lie to Ozpin (Risky and difficult) or tell him the truth (Potentially deviates you from original RWBY storyline more)_

 _Rewards: Dependant on performance. You also learn that you should think before mindlessly accepting optional quests_

 _Failure results: Possible death, Other outcomes unknown._

 _*Accept (Auto-accepting in 10 seconds) *Cannot Decline_  
-

'Oooh, this reeallly doesn't look good though, for real.'

Though the four huntresses-in-training looked disgruntled, they all nodded and eventually took the elevator down to the ground floor. As the sound of the elevator faded from earshot, Ozpin stood up, making his way over to the window with his cane in his right hand. 'He's got his cane. Yeah, I'm so fucked. He probably thinks I'm some pawn of Salem's or something, right? I should probably show off my magic to explain what I meant by "Wizard", not anything else though. That'd be too risky.'

A few moments passed before the headmaster decided to speak up. "Mr Helios, we both know why you're here, right?"

Against his better nature, Leo decided to play it dumb for a bit. "To...talk about the details of me being in a team?" He answered apprehensively.

The silence that soon followed told him otherwise. "That is one of the reasons. Though we will be discussing the details of that afterwards. Now, however, I would like to know the true nature of why you said just what you did when we last spoke."

Before Leo could respond, the elevator dinged and Glynda walked out. The deputy headmistress had her riding crop with her. 'Oh no. Yep, I might have to show him my magic.'

"What do you mean sir?" The mage responded, trying his best to keep a straight face and not waver.

Glynda was the one to answer his question, with no less than a few hints of anger in her voice, of course. "What did you mean when you said that there was a...'New Wizard' in Remnant?"

Ozpin had turned around at this point, his form seemed to hold minute traces of visible anger, along with ample amounts of curiosity and wariness. Not wanting to see what happens when the headmaster's patience eventually snaps, Leo decided to play it safe.

The Mage stared Ozpin dead in the eyes, though he was still trying his hardest to hold back a grin. "I meant exactly what I said. Wizard, magic, me. Capiche?" He finished his statement by holding up his left palm, which quickly erupted into a Small ball of orange flames. 'This is a STUPID IDEA.'

The small fireball flared about in the palm of his hand, stunning the two professors. Glynda moved around to stand near Ozpins desk so she could get a better view of the fire. The headmaster himself didn't know what to say. "Fire..."

The fireball quickly collapsed in on itself, becoming a tiny blizzard that surrounded a pale blue crystal mere moments later. "ice..."

Seconds passed before the mini-blizzard moulded itself into a tiny, crackling thunderstorm. Glynda looked at Leo disapprovingly. "Lightning, we knew you could use this bu-"

Before she could say anything more, the dark clouds of the thunderstorm turned into a dense baseball-like object that emitted a thick, black smoke, which constantly rolled off of the Mage's hand. While Ozpin simply looked more shocked, Glynda evidently had no clue what to make of this, so Leo decided to help her out on this one. "This. Is darkness. Could someone turn on a light? I have another surprise for you both."

The blonde deputy quickly nodded and pressed a holographic button on Ozpin's desk. Around the room, Lights suddenly sprung to life, "Thank you." Leo nodded to the blonde.

Now, the Mage, who still had the ball of darkness in his left hand, Raised his right hand, bending the light in the room to come to him.

As far the two professors could tell, Light was slowly being drawn towards the Mage's right hand, where a shimmering ball of airy, white light began to hover a few centimetres off of his palm. "I don't need to explain this one, do I?"

Both Ozpin and Glynda opened their mouths to answer him, but Leo decided to interrupt them for the fun of it, whilst slowly bringing his hands together. "It's light. This also isn't the extent of my abilities, but I'm gonna withhold the rest for now."

Before either one of the stunned professors could respond, Leo touched the two contrasting elements that he held in his palm together, creating a flash of blinding light for a moment.

When the light dissipated, there was a thick black fog over the entire floor of the office that completely shrouded it from view. "Magic. Believe me yet? Or do I need to blow something up?"

Despite his outward confidence, Leo was panicking internally. 'How am I gonna explain how I knew Ozpin was a wizard..?...WAIT! I swear I have the Wizard of Oz movie on my hard-drive. I'll just say it's a reference to the movie, or something...'

The headmaster shook himself from his stunned state. "No, that won't be necessary. There is another matter we must address, though. You claimed, when we last spoke, that I, for whatever reason, was a Wizard, what did you mean by that?"

The Mage grinned slightly for a moment as Ozpin and Glynda's eyes narrowed. "Well, I remember this movie that my grandad showed me when I was a kid, called 'The Wizard of Oz'. Ever heard of it?" As he finished his sentence, the Mage looked to the blonde combat instructor, who looked quite confused.

"I...Can't say that I have, Mr Helios. Would you care to give a brief description of this movie?" The headmaster seemed relatively interested at this point, though his wariness didn't leave him.

'How to explain this while managing to piss everyone in his little circle off for the fun of it?...WAIT, I KNOW!'

"Well sir. I...can't really remember the, events of the movie that well, cause I last watched it with my grandad when I was just a kid. But I can easily name a few key characters, if that's alright?" A nod from the headmaster gave him the 'go ahead' and so, Leo went about doing his new favourite thing:

Needlessly pissing off Ozpin and everyone else in his little circle for the fun of it.

"Well, sir. There's the Wizard of Oz, the Good Witch of the North and the Tin Man without a heart..." Leo stopped for a moment to bite his tongue so he wouldn't smile. Though, little did he know that a certain General had been permitted to watch the interrogation by Ozpin, and was currently clenching his fist in annoyance and rage. While Glynda held a deadpanned look, she didn't believe him in the slightest. The headmaster however, had small tinges of green energy sparking off of his hands. He was getting angry at Leo, considering how from Ozpin's point of view, the Mage knew everything about the war with Salem and was openly taunting the Wizard. 'Perfect.'

"Those are some of the main...ish characters. There's also Dorothy, she's the main character, there's the Brainless Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion, that's just to name the main characters." Ozpin's eye twitched for a moment and Leo believed that he had fucked up something fierce. Considering how every character he had mentioned, aside from Dorothy, could be referenced to someone in the Wizard's inner circle. 'Shall I brace for impact, Captain Sparrow...?'

Ozpin stared this...new Wizard down as he pondered his words. 'The Wizard of Oz would be me, The Good Witch of the North is obviously Glynda, that Tin man with no heart is likely James. Qrow can seem quite brainless to most, at times. Lionheart has recently become less...confident in his actions. Has Salem literally just sent me one of her agents for the sole purpose of taunting me and laughing in my face?...It is too early to tell...I'll just have see if he's telling the truth about this movie first, that will give me the insight to progress that I need.'

Just as the headmaster seemed to be ready to snap, he took a deep sip of coffee and smiled at his student. "I must admit, It does sound like a rather interesting movie, though it is one I have not had the pleasure of viewing. If you have a copy, would you mind sending it to me? I would simply love to see it." This was clearly a test of whether he was telling the truth or not.

Though, Leo had this planned out. "'course, sir. I'm pretty sure I brought a copy with me to Beacon. I'll get it to you sometime later."

The headmaster nodded before smiling. "Thank you, Mr Helios."

"On a couple of conditions, that is."

Glynda, having decided that a movie wasn't enough by any means to demand anything, narrowed her eyes at the smug student. "And what conditions are those?!"

"Simple." The Mage ignored Ms. Goodwich's gaze and grinned at Ozpin. "If I'm gonna be joining team RWBY, I still want to fight in the Vytal tournament, because it looks like fun. So, you put me in by myself and I'll get you the movie. I'll only use lightning in the fights, so I won't seem like some overpowered Mage that casually hurls around oversized harpoons made out of darkness that leaves nobody else with even the slightest chance of winning, Deal?"

Ozpin, who was genuinely curious as to if his student was a pawn of Salem, and was a tad curious this movie by now, actually seemed to be considering it. A certain blonde noticed this immediately. "Ozpin, you can't be ser-"

"If you can prove to us before the tournament that you can effectively take down a team of four, then we have a deal."

Leo nodded to the headmaster and turned to leave. In the young Mage's eyes, he had technically won. He had lied to the Wizard as much as possible, even going as far to put his previous blunder down to a simple reference! While he couldn't lie about the magic and him being a Mage, he had lied about everything else.

Before he could press the button, Ozpin cleared his throat to get the mage's attention. "...And, Mr Helios? Your class schedule is being changed to copy that of team RWBY's, you will also be sleeping in their dorm. Your bed will be moved in but you can figure out sleeping conditions with your team, if that's alright?"

Even though the headmaster's tone made it sound like a statement, Leo narrowed his eyes before responding. "If a guy being in their room ruins their privacy, then I won't be. Simple as that." Leo didn't care about whether he slept in their room or not, he wasn't a pervert, after all. No, he just wanted to show Ozpin that he is fine with questioning the man's authority when it suits him. Besides, if him being in their dorm DID make any of them uncomfortable, then Leo knew he would be perfectly fine sleeping elsewhere.

And with that, the metal doors shut. Leaving An angry Goodwich and a relatively confused Ozpin in the clockwork office, though that isn't all too surprising. After all, it isn't every day that a Mage shows up.

While Leo knew he had won as much as he could for now, the headmaster was left with more questions than answers...and possibly also a movie. 'Did Mr. Helios just taunt me? or is he simply oblivious? Also...how did a child happen to come by magic? The two brothers abandoned Remnant long ago...could he be a pawn of Salem? No, I highly doubt she would allow someone so reckless to be so close to me. I am also certain that such a movie does not exist. If it did, then I would probably be in a fair amount of trouble right now.'

When the sound of the elevator faded from earshot, Ozpin went back to his chair and turned to face Glynda. "Ozpin. Did you seriously just...' She was clearly dumbfounded. Then again, so was he.

"Yes. Mr Helios possesses magic and has the mind to keep that to himself when he can. We do not know either the extent of his power or if he holds knowledge of the bigger picture yet. If he wishes to participate in the tournament, then we should let him, as that will give us an entire year to observe him. We have time, Glynda. I also don't believe he is a pawn of Salem, as she would likely never allow someone like that to openly taunt me, for fear of her losing information."

The blonde deputy shook her head. "No, not that. Did you just let him barter for a place in the tournament with a movie?"

Ozpin's mug stopped an inch from his mouth. "...I did, didn't I?...That's fine, I intended of having him fight alone regardless. Also, if he isn't lying about that movie, then I would most certainly enjoy seeing it...and making sure that no other copies exist, of course."

The blonde huntress stared him down for a few moments before sighing and making her way to the elevator. After all, she had to teach combat class today, and there was no possible way she WASN'T going to put Leo up against bullshit odds.

He was a Wizard, after all.  
-

As Glynda left, Ozpin sighed before pressing a button, revealing the infuriated face of General James Ironwood, who the headmaster had allowed to observe the interview. He had seen the 5 students coming up the elevator earlier and instantly called the general, so he could see the truth behind Leo's cheap facade. "Well, General...What do you think?"

The general's left eye was visibly twitching and his fists were clenched and shaking. "I think that the boy shouldn't have left your office alive Ozpin. He must be a pawn of Salem! If you act now, surely you can defea-" The headmaster silenced the general by raising his hand and narrowing his eyes.

"James. There are exactly six reasons why I did not try to kill Mr Helios where he stood. Firstly, I am almost certain that this boy may possess an unlimited supply of magic, whether it is limited but can regenerate like aura or is simply too large for me to discern, I am unsure, this also leaves me unsure as to if I could even defeat him. I do not wish to take unnecessary chances." The General's eyes widened at that statement, his shock was so obvious that Ozpin could literally guess his thoughts. 'An unlimited supply of magic? Could I take it and put into my soldiers?'

"-Secondly, we are still unsure whether or not he is a pawn of Salem. He claimed to own a copy of that movie and said he will bring it to me later. Until then, I will not come to that conclusion."

"Three. We will be able to observe the true scope of his magical capabilities over the course of the year and in the tournament. Perhaps I could allow him to train his magical abilities in the vault? Either way, we will find out what else he can do. We have time, James."

Ironwood opened his mouth to speak, but Ozpin wasn't done yet. "Fourth. Due to his magical capabilities, him being in team RWBY is an enormous benefit, if he isn't a pawn of Salem's, that is. The magic he seems to possess is different from that of mine and of the maidens, so the silver eyes may not even affect him."

"-Fifth. He seems to enjoy this...verbal sparring we have taken to doing. He lies about as much as he can, while also technically telling the truth. I believe he may be in a much more complicated situation than being a mere servant of Salem." And with that, Ozpin grew silent, as if daring the general to speak.

Ironwood stared at the headmaster for a moment before raising an eyebrow. "...And the sixth reason?"

With a tap of his finger, Ozpin sent the file of Leo's 'Grandfather' over to Ironwood, who immediately choked on his next words before they left his mouth. "Mr Helios is the grandson of Apollo Helios, The... 'God of the Sun'."

After taking a few moments to compose himself, the general responded, he seemed to understand Ozpin's situation now. "Oh...Well...There have been reports of Apollo killing a few agents of Salem in the past, but he has also killed some of yours, don't forget. We don't know which side he was on, so this...'Leo' remains unknown as well."

And how could the headmaster forget? After all, Ozpin once faced down and nearly died to the 'God of the Sun' twenty years ago, though the man in question had allowed him to live and instantly disappeared after defeating the Wizard, who had even been forced to unleash his true power. "I know, general. Apollo only showed himself a few times, and those few appearances, while seemingly random in both location and time, all just so happened to end up somewhere that was disadvantageous to either us or Salem. Leo is the descendant of that man and claims to have spent time with him. If he one day becomes that powerful with just his lightning, then he could be incredibly useful. We also don't know if Apollo possessed magic, which could lead to Leo becoming infinitely more powerful in time if he didn't."

Though the General didn't seem exactly convinced, he slowly nodded, sighing whilst he did so. "Fine. Though, be on your guard Ozpin, we still don't know where his loyalties lie."

And with that, the call ended. Ozpin turned to the surveillance cameras and sighed. "Hmm, I wonder what that boy is up to now..?"  
-

Back to Leo (When he was in elevator):

As the elevator began it's decent, Leo quickly looked around for cameras or mics. Seeing none, he began to chuckle to himself. While he had given up the knowledge of his magic, he was essentially forced to, considering that the young Mage didn't exactly like what his odds would be if he had to fight both Ozpin and Glynda, all with his lessened stats.  
-

 _*Quest complete: You'd better believe it Bucko!_

 _You successfully lied to Ozpin (And Glynda) as much as you could, though the headmaster still has questions for you..._

 _Rewards: Skill book (Mana Crystals)_

 _Due to your quick wit, You got 2 Cha!_

 _Due to your quick wit, You got 1 Int!_

 _You withheld vital information wherever you could. You got 3 Wis!  
-_

Leo stared at the popup for a few moments, physically unable to hold back his smirk at this point. "Mana crystals? If that's some sort of MP potion, 'cause that's what it sounds like, then that's Sweeet!...Huh? what's this?"  
-

 _*Team RWBY_

 _You have joined team RWBY, join them on their adventures!_

 _Quest steps: Follow the storyline of the show as best you can, while also accounting for your involvement_

 _Rewards: Unknown/ N/a_

 _Failure results: Unknown/ N/a_  
-

"Huh...neat, if a bit unnecessary."

After what felt like an eternity, the elevator eventually reached the ground floor and the thick metal doors slid open, allowing the Mage to head off to his favourite class.

 _ **Grimm studies with Professor Port.**_

Though he was a tad late, due to his 'chat' with the headmaster, a quick explanation to the grey-haired man quickly ended with him in his new seat and his lateness forgiven.

Leo's new seat was, due to his new team's demands...well, Ruby and Yang's demands, to the right of Blake. Their team sat in the front row with Ruby being the closest to the centre, followed by Weiss who sat next to her, then Yang, Blake and finally, Leo.

As the towering Mage sat himself down in his new seat, Yang leaned forward, placing the side of her head on the desk so she was facing towards him. "So, Sparks? What did you and Ozpin talk about?"

Leo shrugged in response. "Nothing important, really. He mainly talked about what I would be doing for the tournament. Long story short, I get to fight by myself if I can take down a team of four in a sparring match. He said some stuff about my semblance and tried to demand that I sleep in the same room as you four, though if that's an issue for any of you, then I'll happily stick to my own room."

His last comment drew an almost sultry smile from the brawler. "Awww~ Sparks, you do care! I knew you were a true gentleman. Nah, for real though, it's fine."

"Hmm." Leo quickly replied before turning his attention back to the teacher.

After quite some time and a brilliant story, Leo looked at the rest of his new teammates to see that Ruby was looking pretty sleepy, Weiss was getting frustrated at her severe lack of notes, Yang's face was implanted into her desk while she snored quietly while Blake had simply resigned herself to listening to the story. Though, the Mage noticed one horrible thing: None of them had many, if any, notes.

Looking down at his own work, Leo realised that he had written at least 2 whole pages of detailed notes, though they were in English rather than Remnants language (Which he had yet to learn the name of), and the lesson wasn't even done! After a quick glance at the rest of the class, Leo realised that everyone else was in a similar situation as his new teammates. Either no notes, or very few. 'How does nobody have any notes? This is great! He's weaving the tactics and weaknesses of the Grimm in the way he's wording the story like a master!'

Either way, Leo knew he would pass this class with ease, considering how he was the only one taking notes. That was good, too, considering how he still had a lot to catch up on for history class. So him doing extremely well in one class which everyone else was gonna fail while he wasn't gonna do so hot in another class kinda just balances itself out in the end.

After a while, Port ended the glorious story and, seeing how they still had some time left before the end of class, decided to pit another student against a Grimm like he had done on their first day. Peter gazed around the classroom for the perfect candidate, until he spotted how a certain Lightning-hurling giant had actually taken what looked to be plenty of notes on his lesson! "Ahem, Mr Helios!"

His response was immediate. The leather-jacket wearing Mage's head shot up within moments. "Yeah, teach?"

The professor didn't respond for a moment, as he was giving the rest of the class time to turn their attention back to him and the lesson. "Considering how you seem to be the only one who's either been able to take detailed notes or have been the only one to bother with them, how would you like to show the class how to effectively deal with a Grimm that is much smaller than yourself? Considering your stature, I'm certain that I can find the perfect beast to demonstrate with!"

Now, if there was one thing that Professor Port didn't expect. It was for Leo to gain an almost sadistic smile as he stood up and begin to make his way down to the front of class. Never before had the teacher see someone who looked so excited to do battle with what could only be classified as a demon. "Oh hell yeah, I'll give it a shot."

As Leo stood where the professor had for the duration of the lesson while the man in question had gone off to get the Grimm, he noticed how he could see EVERYONE. He could see people in the back rows with their eyes shut and heads down just as easily as those in the front row 'How does he stand this shit? He can clearly see people asleep or talking in his lessons, so does he just not care?'.

Though now, there was only one or two people that were asleep, considering how nobody had seen Leo fight a Grimm since his initiation, Which left a fair bit of mystery around the Mage. Along with how he had only joined in for sparring matches during combat class a select few times and absolutely destroyed team CRDL in the cafeteria like they were nothing, the class's sudden excitement and attention was rather understandable.

A full minute passed before the professor came back, he was dragging a large cage with a chain over his shoulder. "Well...Mr...Helios." The pot-bellied teacher continued to haul the cage into place before continuing. "You may choose not to fight it now, if you wish. Th-"

Leo didn't exactly mean to interrupt his favourite teacher, but he was just so excited. His usually calm or lightly-smirking face now held a excited grin with wide, piercing eyes. He looked like a kid who had just found the best candy shop in town...Except...Grimm in the history class. "Nope. I'll fight it."

Port's mouth stopped as Leo quickly interrupted him before it eventually moulded into a smile of his own. "How bold! HA! Very well then. Come, and face your opponent!"

The professor swung his double-bladed axe down onto the lock and an armoured Boarbatusk barreled out.

It wasn't your average pig, not by a looong shot. This one held overlapping armour plates all over its body, it even had a few thin flexible lines of bone over its usually unprotected underbelly, though they wouldn't protect it from a **real** attack.

Leo quickly sidestepped it's first charge as the teacher continued. "This is a rare Bulwark Borbatusk! This little beauty took quite some time to track down and even longer to capture! They aren't that intelligent when angered, which this little thing clearly is. Though it's armour may just make up for that!"

The Boarbatusk looked a little larger than the average one, not by much though. Electricity crackled in Leo's hands as it dashed towards him in its signature 'spin attack'.

The Mage, not wanting to see how effective his usually inefficient, if quick lightning bolts WEREN'T going to be against thick bone plates, decided to go for a different approach. Focusing his mana, Leo quickly formed several needle-thin piercing rods out of blue electricity before launching the volley at the spinning pig. 'This should pierce it...maybe'

The entire volley struck the Boarbatusk dead-on, and...they did nothing. 'Oh right...my stats got lowered...fuck'

With the spin attack now being too close to dodge, the Mage channelled aura and mana into his forehead before slamming his head down onto it with a lightning-charged headbutt in an attempt to destroy its momentum.

Unlike the magical attack that intended but failed to pierce its armour, a raw blunt attack seemed to have a serious effect on the pig, considering how it immediately got thrown backwards from the kick that followed the headbutt closely. Though the blunt attacks didn't seem to do much actual damage to it, while the attack had a decent backlash effect on Leo, considering how he had just rammed his skull into a massive armoured pig. The whole class seemed pretty...' _shocked_ ', though Port was just laughing. "HA! Now that's called using your head. Good improvisation!"

Through the stars that he was seeing, Leo took a quick glance at his stats, wincing internally.

 _*HP: 250/250_

 _MP: 250/300_

 _Aura: 77%_

The pig struggled to its feet before looking to where it's target was when it had attacked...the human wasn't there.

Its eyes suddenly widened as it heard the crash of growing thunder behind it. The Boarbatusk spun around as fast as it's big fat body would let it, though it was a tad too late.

Leo had used his magic and aura to increase his speed so he could dash around his opponent before booting it over with a 'Spartan kick'. In the single second before it could get up and off its side, the lightning Mage reached out his right arm to his opponent's weakly-armoured stomach.

The entire class watched in awe as a crackling lance of electricity rocketed out of Leo's arm and plunged deep into the old Grimm's underbelly, not even slowing down until it punched out the top of it's back. The rod of lightning, which was still connected to Leo and had formed a large set of barbs at the other end of the squealing Grimm so it wouldn't suddenly fall off, was lifted into the air, taking the Grimm with it.

When the rod sat at 90 degrees, the miniature titan planted the rod into the ground, taking a step back as it's height suddenly began to diminish, eventually dragging the Boarbatusk so it's feet were just a scarce few inches off the ground.

Leo, who had taken a step back from his new prisoner, created a crackling blue executioner's greatsword before taking it in both hands and bringing it down between two of its armoured neck-plates, instantly severing its squealing head from the rest of its body.

The Mage grinned as he tested out a new way of dismissing his weapons, which resulted in the greatsword turning into glowing crystal flakes before being drawn into the Mage's open palm, as if they were sparks being drawn into a black hole. Looking around the class, Leo saw the expected response. 'I guess you could say they're pretty...shocked.'  
-

 _*You found a new skill through the use of 'trial and error'_

 _Absorb (Level 1)_

 _Focus on your conjured spells to absorb a portion of the mana back into yourself._

 _Percentage of mana regained goes up with each level._

 _Current level: 50% mana refund_  
 _-_

 _*MP: 180/300_ '...I really need to get more mana. At least I figured out how to absorb my weapons, so that's good.'

Even Port looked quite stunned. Then again, the boy who he now considered to be his favourite first-year student had literally just executed a Grimm via beheading in front of him and an entire class of students.

The brunette grinned as he ran a hand through his hair in a futile attempt to tame that ONE. BULLSHIT. STRAND. OF. HAIR. "So. How'd I do, Professor?" He asked nonchalantly.

Without even a single moment of warning, Port suddenly reared his head back and bellowed out a hearty laugh, which only served to stun his students even more. "HA! Well done boy! I couldn't have done it better myself! What a show of true power and skill that was! Though, do be careful next time you face an older Grimm, as they are generally quite intelligent. That Boarbatusk, despite how I had riled it up so it wouldn't bother with thinking much, quickly figured out your plan, though it was too slow to react. The next time you face one, you shouldn't expect it to be such a sluggish, instinctive beast."

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind." Leo replied as he nodded to the professor before heading back to his seat, ignoring the stunned gazes of both his classmates and new teammates. As he sat down, he noticed that Blake had shifted back to her seat...'Wait a sec...why was she in my seat?'

His question was swiftly answered via two means: Leo looked down at his notes, noticing that they weren't how he had left them, and how Blake quickly cleared her throat to grab his attention. "If...you don't mind me asking, Leo. How have you taken this many notes on his lesson? Even Weiss is having trouble."

Before the Mage could respond, the bell rang, signalling the sudden awakening of a particular sunny brawler. "Wha..? We've got combat class next, right?"

Next to her, Weiss huffed in exasperation. "Yes Yang, we have Ms Goodwich next."

That answer seemed to satisfy the buxom brawler, who had been the only one who managed to sleep through Leo's fight.

Turning his attention back to the amber-eyed Blake, Leo simply shrugged. "I dunno. He's a really good storyteller, I know that for sure. He weaves the important stuff in with his story, which is obviously over the top. I'd guess his stories get more...detailed depending on which year group he's teaching, which would make sense. Don't wanna go around scaring off the people who don't know what they've gotten themselves into before they get too deep."

Blake looked slightly frustrated, so Leo, being the gentleman, decided to help. "If you want, I can copy these out for you four, in...not English?"

The Faunus's expression quickly became a small smile, "Sure. Thanks." And with that, she turned and began to leave with the rest of her team, with Leo trailing along behind.

Combat class:

As Leo sat down on a bench in the spectator zone of the sparring arena, he immediately noticed a certain set of emerald green eyes boring into his soul. "Oh, no."

Next to him, Yang tilted her head in confusion. "What's oh no?"

Without taking his gaze off of the slightly angry/scared Goodwich, the Mage replied. "Long story short, when Ozpin had just finished telling me about why he asked me to stay behind, Goodwich showed up and together, they tried to figure out certain things about me that I prefer to keep secret. I shot them down and lied at every corner, so Goodwich is piiiissed." Leo responded plainly, before his eyes widened slightly as he realised that he just told someone that he both lied to the headmaster intentionally and has secrets that the headmaster attempted to dig out of him. '...me and my big mouth...'

The brawler's response was expected. "Hmm~? Secrets? What type of secrets are you keeping, Sparks?" Her grin had almost gone beyond regular 'shit-eating' levels at this point. She knew that he hadn't meant to say anything, but he had been distracted slightly by the deputy headmistresses emerald gaze.

The Mage paused for a moment before turning his head to face his teammate, a dead-serious expression planted firmly on his face that clearly told her to drop it. "Family-type secrets."

Though the blonde, who's grin quickly disappeared like smoke in the wind, opened her mouth to respond, the ' _randomiser_ ', which totally hadn't been rigged by Goodwich for her entertainment, suddenly called out two names, the latter of which immediately started celebrating: "Leo Helios and Nora Valkyrie."

While the former sighed as he stood up. "Ugh, this ain't gonna go well, is it?"

Yang's newly reinforced grin told him no, it was not going to go well. Her words only further enforced the claim made by her expression. "Nope. Good luck with that."

The lightning Mage groaned as he went off to the prep rooms before his match for the first time. He had fought in spars a few times but he never had anything to prep, so there wasn't a need to go to the prep rooms.

Leo sat on a bench in the prep rooms, panicking slightly as he scrolled through his inventory. 'How can I even beat NORA if I can't use my semblance...I'm not bad with unarmed combat and I'm quicker than her...most of the time and I'm stronger than her.'

Throughout his time at Beacon, Leo had 'found' a fair few items. Dust crystals, practice weaponry, even a hammock! Though he eventually resigned himself to grabbing a basic-looking bastard-sword from one of the many prep-rooms weapon racks, an ice dust crystal from his inventory and a hastily made plan straight from his brain, which was accompanied by a new spell. "Showtime, I guess."  
-

 _*You created a spell!_

 _Magic Weapon (Level 1) *(basically imagine Magic weapon from Dark Souls for the basic version and Greater Magic weapon for the unstable version)*_

 _Using mana, wreathe weaponry in a mana that increases your weapon damage for as long as you have the mana to fuel it!_

 _You can increase your mana output into the weapon in question at an increased rate to double its damage enhancement and make it unstable, which causes mana to fling off at random._

 _Cost of Basic version: 15MP to cast +3 mana every second_

 _Cost of Unstable version: 30MP to cast +5 mana every second  
-_

'This should level the playing field somewhat.' The now-composed mage thought to himself as he wandered into the arena, instantly spotting Nora across from him. She stood in a relaxed stance with her hammer slung over her shoulder. By the amused glint in her eyes, she probably thought that this was going to be an easy win. 'Wrong!'

Despite his thoughts of how he would be able to beat Nora with his plan...it was a terrible plan. The plan was to use 'Magic Weapon' while he had an ice dust crystal in his hand, so it would look like the dust was what caused the effect.

Leo pointed the tip of his sword to the side so that it was at waist level and the blade was parallel to the ground. Leo looked to the blonde combat instructor as he placed the ice dust crystal against the base of the blade, right where it met the guard. "I'm ready."

And with that, the match began. Leo quickly swiped the crystal across the flat of the blade until it reached the tip, where he decided to crush the crystal like it was made out of sugar. That turned out to be a bad idea, as his arm quickly developed a light frost on it, on top of that, it suddenly felt quite cold. 'This is fine...' In truth, it was indeed NOT fine. Though he did get a new skill.  
-

 _*Dust can now be used to both reduce the MP cost and increase the power of spells, though prolonged or intense use of this skill can come with severe backlash effects.  
-_

Though the plan was, in a way, a success. Nora looked genuinely surprised as the blade began to crackle with what looked like electricity, though it's usual pale blue was now a deep azure, she paid no mind to it after her initial burst of shock. "Now it's a fight!" The Valkyrie roared as she raised her hammer, charging towards her foe in a determined attempt to squash him into a thin paste. She was purposely giving him a decent opening so that she could get her lovely 'electricity buff', completely unaware that she would soon be disappointed.

The Mage grinned as he stalked towards his opponent, quickly spinning to the side to dodge the downward strike before clubbing the edge of his practice blade into her side with all the force he could muster.

His attack threw her over, sending her tumbling a few metres away where she eventually used her momentum to stand up, looking pretty confused that his 'lightning' hadn't charged up her semblance. Not wanting to waste any mana or time, Leo dashed forward and attempted to gain the advantage, not even noticing the aura levels above.

Leo Helios: 100%

Nora Valkyrie: 77%

The stunned valkyrie quickly got rid of her shock and swung her hammer in a wide arc in an attempt to send her towering opponent flying. Leo pretty much threw his own legs out from under him to dodge the attack, though he immediately regretted it as Nora swiftly used the momentum of her swing to turn her attack into a downward strike.

Before she could finish the attack, Leo quickly kicked out her left leg with enough force to send her falling forwards, where she was immediately greeted by a surprisingly cold, crackling blue fist to the side of her face. Despite the attack, which was just about to send her flying, Nora noticed that the head of Magnhild was pointed towards her opponent's face.

So she pulled the trigger.

Nora was hurled across the arena by the force of his mana, dust and aura infused punch, while Leo was left dazed on the floor as a result of the grenade for a moment before he eventually staggered to his feet.

The two opponents quickly looked up at their aura levels before charging at each other once again.

Leo Helios: 85%

Nora Valkyrie: 58%

The two continued to trade blows like this for a minute, until Leo suddenly jumped back at exactly the same time that the azure blue spell faded from his weapon. 'Shit, there goes my mana. and with it, my advantage. There's probably no way that I can beat Nora in a fair fight, unless...' The mage looked up at their auras in hope.

 _Leo Helios: 48%_

 _Nora Valkyrie: 39%_

'Maybe? OH FUCK!' He thought to himself as he rolled to the left, just narrowly missing a grenade that sailed past before exploding against the floor a few metres behind him.

Nora, instead of chasing her opponent down when he moved away from her, simply took a few steps back herself and began to take potshots with her grenades.

The mana-less mage now began to play a dangerous game of 'Get closer to the crazy chick with the massive hammer'.

Whether it was by luck or skill, he quickly got close enough to the Valkyrie to force her to swap back to her hammer. And thus, the two went back to it.

Nora spun past Leo's rather reckless downward attack before trying to launch an uppercut with her hammer, only for the Mage to quickly jump back out of her reach. Though he managed to get away unscathed, her hammer struck the blade of his bastard sword and immediately sent it flying with a grenade blast.

Nora's attack continued it's upward momentum, while Leo let go of his weapon before it could drag him away. Now weaponless, he threw a heavy right hook to the girl's chin. His attack was quickly followed up by a few jabs at her head while she attempted to gain some distance.

Whenever she would try to swing her hammer, Leo did his best to either get out of the way, or to simply stop her from swinging by attacking or grabbing the bottom of Magnhild, which was usually pointed towards him as the Valkyrie pulled her hammer behind her so she could launch a wide swing to try and gain some distance.

After a few rather unsuccessful attempts of this on her part, Nora switched her weapon out into its grenade launcher form and the Mage got hit cleanly in the stomach.

As he flew through the air for a moment, Leo risked it and took another look at the screen above.

Leo Helios: 34%

Nora Valkyrie: 21%

He still had the advantage, and that advantage only increased when he spotted his-'SWORD!'

Sure enough, Leo came skidding to a halt next to his practice sword, which he quickly armed himself with before re-activating 'magic weapon' in it's unstable form by dragging his frosty left hand over the flat of the blade again. He had regenerated a bit of mana, but not enough to last for longer than a couple of seconds.

Luckily enough, Nora decided to come to him. The hammer-wielding maniac roared with laughter as she flew through the air with her hammer held high. 'Goddammit Nora' Leo immediately noticed a few things that were wrong with her attack. Like how if he ran forward then it would suddenly become pretty difficult for her to hit him with any real force.

So he did just that. the Mage bolted forward before spinning into his attack, catching the Valkyrie in her left hip as she missed her swing in an attempt to hit him before launching a grenade as she was thrown wildly off course. The grenade hit her opponent directly in the back of the head, which promptly sent him crashing to the ground.

A loud buzz signalled the end of the match. Nora and Leo both got to their feet, each of them grinning like madmen/women as they looked up to the scoreboard.

Leo Helios: 20%

Nora Valkyrie: 12%

Leo and Nora nodded towards one another before turning their attention to Ms Goodwich. "Miss Valkyrie, you have certainly improved since your last spar, but you show great difficulty in fighting opponents that can get too close for you to use your hammer effectively. You have a grenade launcher, though you need to learn to know when to use it."

Nora swiftly nodded before happily skipping her way back to her team. Meanwhile, Ms Goodwich glared at Leo. "Mr Helios...You show impressive control of your semblance and can dish out incredible amounts of damage in a single strike, but your combat skills are below-average at best. You rely on your natural instinct, strength and trading blows when it suits you to defeat your opponents. Remember, not every opponent will be taken down by a quick blast of lightning, so you should learn to improve your swordsmanship."

 _*You got 2 VIT!_

The Mage simply nodded in response, though he was completely unable to hide his grin at the sight of gaining new stats. "Of course, Ms Goodwich."

And with that, Leo silently made his way back to his team, seemingly oblivious to the confused looks he had garnered from a certain Valkyrie, amongst others.

After combat class, the five-man team made their way over to their dorm. Leo had been rather quiet and looked to be deep in thought about something as the group entered the room, only for him to stop at the entrance.

Yang quickly noticed this and raised an eyebrow towards him. "What's up, Sparks? Afraid of a girls dorm~?"

The towering Mage looked rather serious as he stared at the 5th bed, which was huddled up against the corner of the room on the opposite wall from the rest of his new team. "Do any of you have an issue with me being here? I wouldn't want to ruin your privacy."

The four girls stopped and stared at him blankly for a few moments before various emotions became visible.

Weiss looked like she had simply had enough of his shit. "We've already had this discussion Leo. So long as you keep to yourself, I certainly don't mind."

Yang had a small grin, though she looked more serious than usual "If you're sure you can handle us, it's fine by me."

Ruby was looking to the rest of her teammates, though she didn't look as if she was about to say that she minded. "I don't mind, really. Plus, Your our teammate now, and you just proved that you would willingly not be here if it made us uncomfortable."

Blake simply gave him a blank look with a single raised eyebrow as she shrugged. "It doesn't bother me."

Leo looked to each of them before nodding and making his way over to his bed. It was on Yang and Blake's side of the room but huddled up against the opposite wall's corner. The bookshelf that was above it had to be moved, but the desk on that side of the room stayed in place.

His belongings had also been gathered up into his simple black schoolbag from earth and moved to the side of his bed. His various sets of clothes, namely his two sets of uniforms and a second and third pair of what he was wearing now, minus the jacket (A pair of black dress pants and a white t-shirt) were simply thrown into a messy pile by whoever had moved it. As Leo sat on the edge of his bed and began folding up his clothes, Yang suddenly noticed his severe lack of wardrobe. "Leo..?"

"Yeah?" He replied as the Blonde narrowed her eyes at him, causing the rest of team ...RWBHY? to look towards their resident brawler with a confused look.

"Do you seriously only own three pairs of the same clothes?"

Leo could've sworn he saw Weiss's expression turn slightly sour and her left eye twitch suddenly. "Uhhhh...Yeeeessss?"

The brunette and the blonde stared each other down for a few moments before Yang suddenly grinned. "Well then, Sparks. Good thing it's Friday, 'cause we're going to Vale tomorrow to do three things." Everyone else seemed pretty interested at this point. A weekend out in Vale does sound nice.

Leo decided to take the obvious bait. "And those are..?"

The brawler held up her left hand, listing off the three things with her fingers. "One, We're gonna get you some proper clothes, as well as shopping for ourselves of course. Two, Ruby wanted to help you out with your weapon, so we're getting some stuff for that. Three, we are going out to a club to celebrate you joining the team!"

Leo grinned upon hearing the third reason, whilst the three members of RWB suddenly looked either annoyed or scared, the latter of which being only in Ruby's case. "So, let me get this straight..." The miniature titan responded as he sat up back against the headrest of his bed. "You want to pick out a wardrobe for me, help me out with a pet project...then you want to go out drinking with me?"

Yang crossed her arms and nodded, seemingly oblivious to what kind of trap she had just walked into. "Yep, that about sums it up. You game?"

The brunette responded by chuckling, which only served to both anger and surprise the blonde, "What's so funny about that!?"

And like that, the trap was sprung. "If you wanted to ask me out on a date, Yang, you could've just asked."

Said trap worked, too. If Yang's immediate blush and glare were anything to go by, along with the poorly muffled chortling that came from Ruby, who instantly keeled over upon seeing her sister flustered. She actually struggled to come up with a retort before simply resigning to chuckling as well. "I really walked into that one, didn't I?"

"Like a blind woman. Anyways, if you reckon I need some different clothes, then I might as well humour you. Though I was gonna practice with my semblance some more, I may as well. I do need to get something more...formal."

Upon mention of his semblance, Ruby stopped her endless chortling and sat up. "Oh yeah, how'd you do that thing with Nora? Her semblance lets her absorb electricity, doesn't it?"

Suddenly, several loud knocks on their door were swiftly accompanied by the voice of the Valkyrie in question. "YOUR DAMN RIGHT IT DOES! TELL ME HOW YOU DID THAT!"

Weiss, not wanting the door to be thrown off its hinges, bolted over to the door and swung it open. Revealing Nora, who immediately began to fall forwards. "AAHH!"

She hit the ground face first before seemingly teleporting to Leo's bedside whilst pointing a finger at him accusingly. "HOW? TELL ME NOW, MISTER!"

The Mage stifled his laughter as he quickly shot a glance at his mana. 'I'll just say It's technically lightning, just a bit...aura infused so Nora couldn't absorb it? That's gonna have to do.'

 _*HP: 270/270_

 _MP: 220/300_

 _Aura: 57%_

"Well..." He began, whilst raising his right palm so it was facing upwards.

After a bit of quick manipulating with simple raw mana, Leo unlocked a simple spell.  
-

 _*You unlocked a spell!_

 _Mana manipulation_

 _Using your basic knowledge, you have unlocked this elementary spell...you reeally should've found this one a while ago._

 _You can pour more mana into this spell to give it the 'unstable' effect, which will increase its damage, spell cost and will give it an effect like crackling electricity._

 _Cost of basic Varient: Dependant_

 _Cost of unstable Varient: Depends  
-_

A small ball of what looked like a strange mix between azure fire and slightly paler lightning crackled to life in his hand. The expressions of his teammates and the confused Nora gave him reason to elaborate. As he re-absorbed his spell, Leo sighed and began to explain his quickly thought-up lie. "I got bored one night, so I figured out how to infuse lightning from my semblance with more aura than usual. It does more damage than regular lightning, plus it looks cooler. But it doesn't really work like normal electricity and it costs more aura to use, so I was a bit careful with how often I used it in our spar-"

Nora suddenly turned around and instantly bolted off like speedy Gonzales on crack, she obviously had to be somewhere. "OKAY COOL GOTTA GO BYE!"

Weiss, on the other hand, didn't believe that's all there was to it. "I don't buy it."

The other three members of the team stared at the heiress, while Leo gave her a glare that told her to drop it, though she wasn't backing down. Ruby's brow furrowed as she looked towards her partner. "Weiss? What do you mean?"

"I mean, you dragged an ice dust crystal along that practice sword when you used it, what was the point in that? Also, electricity and aura doesn't result in THAT. Atlas has done several tests on it with auras and semblances of all types and colours, none of them made it change in the slightest." Now everyone was staring at the brunette questioningly, who simply shrugged.

"Maybe it's just me then."

His rather blunt response actually managed to stun the heiress for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, that because the electricity that I use is also made out of my aura, I can do certain things with lightning that nobody else can. Also, about the dust thing...I'd rather have people think that I need dust to do that type of thing, otherwise It might just start to look like magic or something, and I don't wanna discourage people by seeming like I'm unbeatable for the tournament."

Leo suppressed a grin as a small popup in front of him told him that playing dumb and hinting to what it actually was had worked marvelously.

 _*You got 1 Cha!_

The Heiress's mouth stayed open for a moment as she thought about how to respond to what seemed like such an outlandish claim, eventually just resigning herself to sighing. "Okay, yeah. That does actually make sense, it just being a result of your semblance. Sorry about that."

Leo waved off her apology as he reached into his schoolbag to pull out his laptop and headphones. "Don't worry about it. If it helps my case, I have no clue why exactly I can do it either, even with my semblance." He responded as he leant back against the headrest of his bed with his laptop on his lap with his wireless mouse on the bed next to him.

Team RWBY...RWBHY?...RHWBY?...fuck it, its still called team RWBY, because fuck you Leo. Anyways, the other members of the team took the titan's silence and device that currently held his undivided attention in front of him as a cue to simply drop the subject. Though Ruby had other plans...that thing on his lap looked awesome!

The reaper slowly crept closer to her target, eventually standing right next to his bed. Leo quickly noticed her, paused whatever he was doing and took off his headphones. "What's up?"

"It's just that...I've never seen something like that before, what is it?"

The brunette shifted his laptop to the side so she could get a better look. "I call it a laptop. My grandfather and dad decided that... the Operating system that literally everything else uses was too easy to hack, so they made me and everyone else in the family these. It can play games, music, movies and pretty much everything else a scroll can. Except go onto the internet, because I managed to break that bit and it's pretty much impossible to fix."

 _*Your ability to lie has become marginally better! +1 Int!_

His temporary happiness upon seeing the stat gain was quickly whisked away as he realised what he had just said. 'Oh no. I just said that something was broken in front of Ruby...-'

A hopeful grin appeared on the red reaper's face. "Can I have a shot at fixing it?"

Leo pretended to consider it for a moment before shaking his head. "No. If you made even a single mistake, then it could just break the whole thing. Sorry, but it's pretty delicate and hard to tinker with."

Ruby's smile deflated somewhat. "Aww, okay." She probably would've pushed for him to let her help more, but she had evidently heard him say that his family made it for him and didn't want to potentially destroy something precious to him.

Though of course, it hadn't been made by his family, it had probably been made by some 5-year-old in Bangladesh for 63 cents. Leo slipped his headphones back on and quicksaved his game of Skyrim before simply deciding to listen to some music, not even noticing how his eyelids slowly began to grow heavy or how his consciousness began to fade as he eventually fell asleep.  
-

Later:

Considering how Leo had fallen asleep, Yang had the bright idea of making off with his laptop so she could figure out his taste in music. Though, after demands from Weiss and Ruby, who were also curious, Team RWBY sat down on the pair of bottom-bunk beds. With Yang and Blake on their side and Ruby and Weiss on the heiress's bed.

Yang's once ecstatic grin swiftly grew into a look of confusion as she and Blake tried to look for anything that was somewhat familiar, though there was an issue. "Man, I don't even know what language this is. Blake, you got any clue?"

The raven-haired Faunus seemed just as confused as her partner was, "No, I've never even seen this. He wrote the same sort of thing back in Grimm studies, I _think_ he called it English."

On the opposite bunk, Ruby shifted about uncomfortably while Weiss was only getting more irritated. "Oh, just pick one, would you Yang?!"

"Geez, fine. How about...This one!"

Team RWBY sat on their bunks, simply listening to Leo's completely foreign music. After a while, the Titan in question began to stir, so Yang quickly paused the song in the hopes that he might not wake up. "Well, he has good taste, though he could do with some more...well-known songs, maybe? And maybe he could have the text in...not English"

Next to her, Blake shrugged. "I think his music's fine. Besides, there aren't too many new songs coming out these days. So if all of his songs are new to us then that's good."

Across from the two, Weiss nodded. "His taste in music is good. Even I must admit that, either his playlist was made by multiple people or he doesn't have a preference." She hit the nail on the head for the first one, everyone in his family had pitched in to give some suggestions.

A certain red Reaper immediately brushed off her partner's criticism. "Naaaah, I think he just likes music."

"Like... what?" A sleepy, yet rather gruff voice mumbled from across the room as Leo slowly sat up.

In the next few seconds, everything went to shit.

Yang, who evidently hadn't planned this far ahead, panicked and tried to hide his laptop under Blake's bed.

Blake tried to play it cool, acting as if nothing was wrong.

Weiss, having noticed how the laptop was now under Blake's bed and the teammate in question was now putting up a decent facade, decided to follow suit, though she didn't do as well. "U-um, nothing!"

Meanwhile their leader, that being a now-panicking Ruby, stuttered. Eventually blurting out everything in one sentence, much to her team's annoyance and horror, with the horror being in Leo's case. "WellYouSee,YangTookYourLaptop,BecauseSheWantedToKnowAboutWhatMusicYouLiked,AndItWasReallyGoodToo! ButWeDidn'tWantYouKnowing,SoNowEveryoneIs...Playing It Cool...oh."

Leo took a moment to decipher his new leader's words in his head before his eyes widened in what looked to be fear. He quickly hopped out of his bed and stood up, towering over everyone else, even more so as they were all sitting down. "Where is it?!" His normally calm voice now sounded erratic and terrified, as if his laptop held vital information that could potentially lead to the entire world's destruction, or something...wait...it does.

Quickly realising that things were potentially about to get very bad, very fast, Blake reached under her bed and revealed his laptop, which Leo took back gratefully.

He flipped up the top and clicked a few times before breathing a sigh of relief, much to his team's confusion. "...Oh, you were only listening to some music then? Nothing else?"

Before either the Heiress, the Brawler or the Faunus could even hope to respond, Ruby suddenly shot up in a burst of rose petals. "Nope, nothing else! Your music is awesome! I haven't even heard any of those songs, yet they're so good! What's with the weird language, by the way?"

Before Leo could respond, a buzz on his scroll caught his attention. "Oh, right. I've still got detentions for beating up team CRDL. I'll see you guys later, then." And with his laptop still under one arm, the Mage left.

Three sets of eyes quickly shot over to Yang in an accusing stare, who looked completely betrayed.

And like that, an argument that was only settled at dinner, much later, began.

 **Later:**

During a very boring detention in which Glynda actually seemed rather wary around him, 'I wonder whyy. Maybe because I have magic and aren't her boss.' Leo decided to just show the deputy headmistress and Ozpin, after she called him down, the 'Wizard of Oz' movie, which he had on his laptop...for whatever unknown reason 'Why do I even have this installed? Oh well, it's useful for something, at least.'. Ozpin and Ms Goodwich seemed genuinely surprised as to the contents of the movie, let alone the fact that there was such a movie to begin with.

After that, Leo went to the cafeteria to get himself a quick dinner with team JNPR and RWBY, though Jaune seemed to be sitting with team CRDL, much to Pyrrha's disappointment. For some reason, Yang demanded to know if she would be allowed to listen to music on his laptop again, which the Mage replied with: "As long as you ask me first and don't go onto anything else, then sure."

After dinner, in which Yang seemed rather chuffed with herself after Leo's response, team RWBY went back to their dorm and took each of their turns in the shower before getting ready for bed. Leo, who had heard of this odd thing called 'chivalry', offered to go last. And so, last he went.

Once he had finished in the shower, he put on his sleepwear, which was just a black pair of sport shorts that went down to his knees, and went back out into the room with a towel around his neck.

The moment he stepped into the dorm, Leo suddenly noticed that his four teammates were staring at him, all of which had rather conspicuous pink tinges on their cheeks. "What?" Looking down, he quickly realised why. 'Oh...riiiight.'

He had always slept shirtless and so, because it was just natural to him, the thought of how they would react to seeing him without a shirt, whereas they had only ever seen him wearing his jacket, the thought simply didn't occur to him. Due to how often he used to go to the gym on Earth and how aura helps to stop muscle deterioration...somehow, his chest looked like it was chiselled straight out of stone, or torn from a statue of an ancient god.

Though the silence was quickly silenced when Yang...well, she said exactly what you'd expect. "Daaamn, Sparks. And here I was wondering why you don't wear any armour or use weapons, look at those abs...those GUNS! Mmmm~!"

Her sister's comment only served to deepen Ruby's blush, as well as those on the other two members of the team. Weiss decided to simply look away while Blake seemed to be physically unable to take her eyes off of him, she was also...'Is Blake... drooling?'.

After seeing each of their expressions, Leo decided to have a bit of a laugh. "What? Never seen a guy with a towel around his neck before?" He questioned innocently with the beginnings of a sly grin appearing.

That would have been enough to make a certain brawler howl with laughter, but she quickly realised where her sister's gaze was aimed. So she went for a pun to get her to stop looking at him instead. "Sparks, put on a shirt. Ruby, being the weapon enthusiast that she is, just can't stop staring at your...GUNS!"

Leo took one look at his now-embarrassed leader, then another to the grinning brawler before chuckling to himself as he made his way over to Yang's, Blake's and his closet on the right side of the room. "Damn, I'm pretty sure you guys told me not to try anything shady, yet you four are the only perverts here!" He said jokingly as he produced one of his seemingly endless supply of white cotton shirts from the wardrobe.

Each of the four girls held their own response to that:

Ruby buried her head in her hands. "NO IM NOT!"

Though Leo expected that response from his leader. "Yet you were staring until someone called you out on it." He replied in an almost sing-song voice.

Weiss seemed appalled, though that blush on her cheeks remained as he turned around to put on his shirt, which may or may not have been a size or two smaller than what it realistically should be. "It would be fine if you didn't casually walk around without a shirt. Show some decency!"

The quick-thinking mage immediately came up with another response, one that looked like he was in some dramatic movie and had just been shot. "What? You don't think I look at least decent without a shirt? That's cold, Weiss. Real cold." The heiress in question looked away with a huff, though the blush on her white cheeks now looked like someone had taped rose petals to her face. 'Huh. I actually made her blush again...with just words...Maybe I SHOULD be in charge of those Brexit negotiations back on Earth."

Blake remained completely silent. She KNEW what she was.

Meanwhile, Yang in the other hand...tried her best to be as 'Yang' as possible. "You'd better believe it! I'd think that you work out just to have people stare at those abs. I even took a photo!" The smirk on her face accompanied her scroll, which now held a photo of him walking out of the bathroom with a towel around his neck. "This is definitely becoming my background. I need the eye candy."

Despite how Yang obviously thought she was in a position where 'Sparks' couldn't retort, Leo just so happened to have a response for that. "Huh...Y'know, you may as well just say it directly at this point. First you ask me out on a date to Vale, then you don't even try to deny how you were staring at me as I left the bathroom, even going as far to take a photo of me when I was leaving the shower. There is such a thing as being subtle, Yang."

As Yang stuttered to come up with a response, her verbal opponent simply turned, made his way to his bed and promptly fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

* * *

 **END**

 **As I got to the end of this chapter, I've realised that I'm still conflicted about pairings. I would personally like to give Leo some form of love interest (Either Weiss or Yang), but I don't want to risk ruining this fic by having the story focus on the romance too heavily, so if I do then it'll essentially take a bit of a back seat.**

 **If you've got any issues or spotted any serious fuck-ups in my writing, please tell me. I still have no goddamn clue what I'm doing in terms of writing.**

 **Hopefully I'll be able to put a wee bit more time into this over the holidays, so updates just might become more frequent.**


	5. Chapter 5: To Vale!

**My indecisiveness has finally come to an end. There's not gonna be any pairing. Thank you to all of the reviewers who pointed out various reasons why, in this case, friendly/family-like relationships will likely work with the story better than some form of romantic one.**

 **Leo is going to end up changing things where he can, but he wants to keep most things the same/or similar until things really need to change. This is because he's seen all of RWBY, so it can be used as information for the future if he can accurately guess how him being in Remnant changes things. Besides, he assumes that if he were to suddenly destroy the White Fang or take out Torchwick, then Cinder would just come up with something else to do the exact same job, based on how she has proven to have various backups or can change her plans to fit in with whatever's happening. Like how she did with the Breach.**

 **Also. I'm usually going to refer to Leo as a Mage and Ozpin as a Wizard, just for simplicity's sake. Though, if I do some stuff on Ozpin's perspective then he will likely refer to Leo as a new Wizard or something along those lines.**

 **Finally, I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, and I'm too lazy to check, so "This means someone is talking out loud", Whilst 'This means thoughts'**

 **'' Is thoughts.**

 **"" Is words.**

 **Chapter 5: Trip to Vale**

*Saturday morning: 3AM

All throughout team RWBHY's dorm, four out of it's five inhabitants were sleeping as peacefully as usual in the early saturday morning hours.

Ruby was having a dream about Grimm that became cookies after being slain. And there she was, in a large, open field with Crescent Rose, surrounded by newborn Beowolves...what fun.

Weiss was dreaming about how powerful their team was. How they would win the Vytal tournament, and, more importantly, how her Father would eventually understand why she had to become a huntress.

Blake was dreaming about her past. There she was, on the train...and Adam was on the other side. Though, some strange sound was thankfully beginning to tear her from that...less than preferable dream.

Yang dreamt about what they were going to be doing down in Vale when she woke up. Specifically about a either fighting someone or winning a drinking contest against Leo. Maybe even both!

Meanwhile, the Mage himself was having a nightmare. He would constantly cut between various events. There was the Fall of Beacon, where he would watch Yang die, while Pyrrha got decapitated in a dark room by Cinder, leaving her lifeless body to take a few more steps before eventually crumpling to the floor. His nightmare took him to every single death that could matter to him. All of team RWBY ended up dead, and team JNPR ended up no better off than it's sister team.

 _Yang and Pyrrha died in Beacon. Yang was cut in half at the waist by Adam, while Pyrrha was decapitated by Cinder in Beacon's Vault._

 _Ruby and Jaune died against Tyrian in Mistral. Ruby died of Tyrian's poison a day or so after their battle while Jaune died mid-fight._

 _Nora took a fatal wound to protect Ren from the Nuckelavee. That wound eventually took her life._

 _Ren committed suicide after Nora's death. He had killed the Nuckelavee with her. Afterwards, the two childhood friends, in the ruins of their destroyed village, finally confessed their love for one another. Nora silently died with a smile on her face moments later and Ren shot himself with Stormflower._

 _Blake and Weiss both died on opposite sides of the world where nobody would ever find their bodies. Weiss's airship, which had been heavily delayed due to swarms of Nevermore, was destroyed by the Dragon Serpent that had killed Blake a few days earlier. Gambol shroud was still lodged into the horn on it's face, which Weiss saw before her demise. Blake's ship to Menagerie was destroyed by the Grimm days earlier. After it opened it's wings, the serpent swiftly took to terrorising the skies of Remnant._

 _Over the course of his nightmare, Leo could only stand and watch everybody in his new life die._

 _Ozpin died to Cinder during the Fall of Beacon. His re-incarnated form of Oscar Pine was hunted down and taken captive by Salem. He was forced to watch the world burn._

 _Qrow was hunted down like most other huntsman. Even HE couldn't hide from the Queen of the Grimm._

 _Raven disappeared, her tribe was destroyed soon after. She, like some of the quicker and stealthier huntsmen, was forced to run and hide for the rest of her life. Though she was eventually hunted down by Salem and killed for her powers as the Spring Maiden._

 _Taiyang died while fighting Hazel. He was attempting to protect the students of Signal academy. He failed._

 _Glynda was overwhelmed by the hordes of Grimm that had overrun Vale. Nobody was alive to help her, so she died alone..._

 _Ironwood and the Atlesian army failed to stop the ever-growing hordes of Grimm that began to choke the world, largely due to how the SDC, with it's now-mad Jacques Schnee was essentially taking over Atlas. The General himself eventually died to the maw of the Dragon Grimm, which Salem sent from Beacon to destroy Atlas academy. It succeeded._

 _Teams CFVY, SSSN, CRDL, just to name a few, were eventually destroyed along with the rest of the Academies, Kingdoms and eventually, the entire world of Remnant was reduced to a scorched wasteland._

 _In the end, there was just one._

 _A lone Mage who had finally become powerful enough to protect those who he cared about, though it was far too late for that._

 _Leo Helios, the final one who could still stand against Salem and her endless hordes of Grimm._

 _Even if he won, it would be a fruitless victory._

In all of his tossing and turning, the Titan unconsciously rolled out of his bed, hitting the floor with a heavy *Thump*. Unbeknownst to him, he had just woken a certain Faunus up.

Leo, having just woken up, staggered to his feet. His breathing was heavy and erratic as he quickly made his way out of the dorm, using one arm to grab at the wall to support him, he didn't even notice the various pop ups that had appeared in front of him.

 _*Your 'nightmares' have had a serious effect on your mental state, which has resulted in a minor effect on your physical state._

 _Various stats have been temporarily (Or Permanently) reduced, until you can stop these thoughts and fears, your stats will remain weakened._

 _You lost 5 STR_

 _You lost 5 END_

 _You lost 15 CHA_

 _Your spell cost has been increased for: Unknown length of time._

 _You became more paranoid, but also more determined to figure out how to change the future in certain ways._

 _Your knowledge of a second potential future has increased your INT by 3!_

'I don't think I want to go back to sleep.' He eventually made his way over to the first-years break room, where he set up the coffee maker and hopped up to sit on the bench.

As the coffee pot began to slowly rumble to life, Leo thought about his dreams. 'None of those deaths even happened in the show. Is me just being here having such a big effect already?'

He was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice Blake stalk into the room after him. Then again, her footsteps were almost completely silent. She did little more than just stare at him for a bit, partially because she didn't know what to say. By the time she worked up the courage to speak, the coffee pot had finished brewing. "Hey, Leo?"

Her teammates gaze snapped up from where it had previously been staring blankly at the floor. "Yeah?"

"Are you...alright?"

Leo almost seemed to crumble for a moment before eventually steeling himself. "Yeah, just a nightmare. Nothing to worry about." His voice was obviously pained and he forced every word out with visible discomfort.

Though his answer was obviously a lie, Blake nodded and sat herself down a nearby chair.

Blake looked around the room uncomfortably, Leo seemed rather content to sit in silence, while she, for once, wasn't. Thankfully though, she eventually decided to cough lightly and catch his attention. "Do you want to talk about it?"

The two made eye contact, Blake held curiosity and worry in her eyes whilst Leo's usually fiery eyes were dimmed and filled with a mix of uncertainty and fear. "...I..." His voice cracked as he tried to speak. Eventually, he looked away from his teammate and muttered two words. "I...Can't."

That only served to futher the Faunus's curiosity. "Why not?" She questioned, her voice sounded softer than usual.

Leo took a shaky breath before lightly chuckling to himself. His quiet laughter was hollow and meaningless, they could both tell that. "It's stupid."

Blake shook her head. "No dream is stupid, I'm not going to judge or hate you for it. It's clearly bothering you, so you should tell someone about it."

He sat in silence for a full minute, occasionally opening his mouth to speak, but he was unable to find the words. Until he did, that is. He stared down at the ground as he hissed out every word with resentment. "I...I watched everything... get destroyed. The academies were burned to the ground, the Kingdoms were razed and crawling with Grimm. The entire world became a smoking wasteland filled with... nothing."

By the look on his teammates face, she had no clue how to respond to that. Though, he wasn't done. "And the worst bit?" Leo looked up to his friend with tears beginning to form in his eyes. His eyes, which usually reminded people of a roaring bonfire or a warm hearth, were now a dull, dark orange that barely looked to even hold the faintest traces of embers. "I lived. Everyone died, but me."

Blake stared at Leo for a moment. He didn't look confident, he didn't look powerful or strong like he usually did. He looked weak, frightened and defeated, as if that nightmare had already come to pass and there was no way to stop it. The Faunus had no clue how to respond or help him, but she had to try. "Leo, it's just a bad dream. If...you're that worried about it happening, then you should do something to prevent it."

The brunette stared down at his own hands for a full minute, eventually bringing them up to wipe away the tears that had formed. 'She's right. I just have to make sure that it doesn't happen. In the dream I wasn't there for any of their deaths, if I'm there for them... then they can't happen. Now...I need me a cup of coffee.' Without a word, Leo grabbed a mug from a nearby cupboard and poured himself a cup of coffee, eventually bringing it to his lips and downing the entire thing in one go. "Thanks... Blake."

Blake nodded. "No problem."

The two simply sat there for a few minutes, with Leo occasionally re-filling his cup until he was absolutely certain that he wouldn't be going back to sleep anytime soon. Eventually he hopped off the bench that he was sat on and decided to go for a bit of training, while Blake went back to the dorm. It was too early to be doing anything but sleeping, after all.

As Leo wandered towards one of Beacon's training rooms, he heard the distinct sound of steel clashing with steel. 'Who would be up at this hour?...aside from me, that is.' The brunette thought to himself as he moved towards the sound.

Eventually he found who was training at 3 in the morning. It was Jaune.

The blonde knight swung with sheer determination against the bot that was set to 'Easy', rather than the 'Very Easy' difficulty that it had been set to when Leo last saw Jaune training. The Mage found a nice spot against the entrance to the arena and began to observe Jaune as he fought.

After a while, he managed to defeat a single bot. As it clattered to the floor, Jaune pulled out his scroll and stopped the simulation, Leo took this opportunity to speak up, though he really wasn't in the mood to, he wanted to make sure that Jaune saw him as a friend, rather than someone who just tolerates him. "Nice."

The blonde spun around, by the look in his eyes, he had probably expected any voice to be that of Cardins, though he suddenly looked relieved when he realised that it wasn't. "Heh. Thanks...Sooo, what're you doing up?"

Pushing himself off the wall, Leo shrugged. "Eh, Bad dream, couldn't shake it off, so I came to wake myself up with some training. How about you?"

Jaune tried to hold up his facade of his usual false confidence. "Ehh, y'know how it is, just trying to get in a bit more practice."

The brunette nodded slowly. "Riight...Hey Jaune?" His voice, which usually sounds like he had just tried to eat some gravel, sounded rather soft.

The distinct change in tone made the knight cock his head to the right. "Yeah?"

Leo knew that Jaune wasn't in the brightest of places right now, so he had to make sure that Jaune knew he was a real friend. "I...I know Cardin's been bullying you, in ways that nobody can really help you with, right?"

"What, Cardin? Pfft, nah, he's...just..." Jaune's bravado quickly faltered and he simply walked over to the arena's entrance and slumped down on the opposite wall from Leo, who slumped down as well. "Yeah, that's exactly it. Though it's my fault."

As Leo stared at Jaune, the blonde noticed something. The Titan wasn't looking at him with pity, nor disappointment. "Nah, it's not your fault Jaune. If it helps your case, I figured out that Ozpin already knows about your...situation with those transcripts of yours."

The leader of team JNPR's eyes suddenly became filled with fear, Fear which Leo immediately shut down. "Relax, Jaune. Ozpin knew before you even got accepted. That means that he let you in anyways, he sees something in you...I do as well. You may never become the quickest runner or the strongest fighter, or even the smartest scholar. But do you know what you can be?"

"W...What? A farmer?!" Jaune's voice was filled with venom and vitriol. He clearly wasn't thinking straight. His head fell forward so Leo couldn't see his face

'Did he even listen to what I said? I DID say that the headmaster let him anyways, right?'

"No. Ozpin let you in because he sees what you can be. You're a thinker, Jaune, a good one at that. With that single trait, you can become the Hero that you wanna be, you can hold a team together no matter what. Trust me, if you think hard enough and wait for the perfect time, you'll figure this whole thing with Cardin out. I would certainly offer to help you, but I don't think I can. Plus, you don't want any help, do you?" The silence that emanated from the blonde was enough of an answer. "Right. Well, if you do need help, then you'd better believe that I'll be there, regardless of the consequences that I'll face for it. Do you know why?"

Jaune looked across to Leo. "Why?! You know I'm a fraud, so why would you even want to help me?!"

The thought of Jaune being a fraud when the Mage wasn't even supposed to be in Remnant, almost made Leo laugh. "Two reasons Jaune. One, I'm a fraud too, in worse ways than you could ever be. Two...-"

Topaz-coloured eyes locked onto two orbs of sapphire. "-Cause I'm your friend."

The blonde looked shocked as he stared at the brunette in disbelief. "How are YOU more of a fraud than ME?! I literally cheated my way into Beacon, what could you have done that's worse?"

Leo shrugged in response. "Simple. I didn't get accepted into Beacon by sending in transcripts or going to any combat school, I woke up in Ozpin's office after I blacked out one day. I don't even know how I got accepted, I'd assume it's because of...pfft...probably my Grandfather's name." The Mage silently both cursed himself for talking without thinking and praised himself for his quick thinking.

Jaune looked about as shocked as he thought he would, but Leo wasn't done. "I'm not a good fighter, I don't even really know how to use a weapon, I either trade blows or just use my semblance to win. I'm decent at martial arts and not half-bad at boxing, but that's about it.-" Leo's usual confidence was still shattered from his conversation with Blake earlier. He looked defeated and spoke in a solemn, blank tone.

"-And ontop of that, I've lied to everybody about nearly everything, my past included..." Jaune opened his mouth to try and say something, but Leo still wasn't done. He suddenly looked angry. Not at Jaune, but at himself

His orange eyes raged with fire, not just from their colour, tongues of fire lashed about behind his irises. "Practically everything you 'know' about me is a fucking LIE, JAUNE!...I'm not even supposed to be here."

As soon as his outburst began, the fire in Leo's eyes quickly fizzled out, leaving the two of them sat across from one another in the arena's entrance archway. "If anything, I'm the real fraud here, Jaune. Not you."

The blonde in question didn't know what to do. He, among others, had always seen Leo's confidence and power as some un-achievable goal. He was the guy who did what everyone else was too afraid or too weak to do. He had even gained a title amongst some of the other students, 'The Storm'. Even Pyrrha seemed a bit apprehensive about fighting him, though she was, in a way, incredibly eager to spar with the Mage, as well.

But now? All Jaune can see is himself, reflected in the darkened, dull orbs that once shone like a bonfire. Even Leo's 'sun' ring, which always seems to reflect the light, even in dark places, simply wasn't reflecting anything. The gold looked dull and old, while the topaz seemed to have shifted colours, it looked like translucent dark chocolate, rather than it's bright orange.

They stared at one another for a moment, not saying anything until Leo eventually got up with an obviously forced smirk on his face, though his eyes were still dull and darkened. "But I know you and me aren't gonna be frauds forever. I'll get used to... this, and you'll become the 'hero' you wanna be...If you're done with the bots then I'm gonna have a go."

Without waiting for a response, the Titan turned, making his way over to the terminal where he quickly punched in a few buttons, setting a few bots to 'Very Easy', because he really needed to let off some steam.

Whilst Leo tore apart training bot after training bot with his bare hands, Jaune simply watched him fight as he pondered the brunette's earlier words.

Most people looked graceful or skilled when fighting, but Leo was the complete opposite. Even without his semblance, the man was a monster in terms of unarmed combat. Nothing that someone like Yang couldn't handle, but he could hold his own. He wasn't as skilled as the blonde brawler with his fists by any means, but Jaune bet himself an ice cream that Leo could probably hit far harder than she could if he went all out.

After a while, the Blonde leader decided to go back to his dorm and get some sleep, though the Mage's words had clearly had some effect on him. 'What did he mean...he's lied to everyone about everything, his past included? In what way? Why? What's so bad about his past that he'd hide it from us?'

After Jaune had left, Leo decided to go and get some real practice in. He quickly left Beacon and made his way over to the Emerald forest, determined to tear something apart with what could only ever be described as a ruthlessly unnecessary amount of magic.

Leo wandered the forest for a while. Every Grimm that he found, he killed with whatever he could think to use. Eventually, he found a cave, which looked suspiciously like the one Pyrrha and Jaune went into during their initiation. 'Well, hopefully there's another Deathstalker in there. I need to get better with different spells...and I need to clear my head.'

Considering how the cave was probably gonna be pitch-black, Leo spent some time to create a night vision spell, luckily his favourite race in Skyrim was the Khajiit: 'You with the trading caravans, Khajiit? Your kind always seems to get into trouble...goddamn Imperials.'

 _*Night eye (Level N/A)_

 _Grants night vision until deactivated_

 _Cost: 10MP to cast._

With the spell created and activated, the Mage trudged deeper into the cave, where he eventually made his way into a large, seemingly empty cavern. "well...this is a bit disappoin-"

Leo's words were suddenly cut short as about a hundred pairs of blood red eyes that covered the roof and walls of the cave suddenly turned towards him. Despite the night vision, he couldn't even tell that the Grimm were even there before they turned.

There were some Beowolves latched onto the walls, a couple of Ursai on the ground, a King Taijitu in one corner and a rather large horde of Creeps, all of which only served to bring a sadistic smile to Leo's face. "Nevermind. This'll do nicely."

The Mage casually strolled out of a now-collapsed cave with squinted eyes a hand over his mouth to protect him from the billowing clouds of dust. "Maybe I could've done that a bit...less over-the-top. Oh well."

 _*Earth manipulation has Leveled up to: level 10!_

 _Large-scale Earth manipulation has become easier and thus costs less mana to use!_

 _*Manipulation of the Dark has leveled up to: level 7!_

 _You can now create weaponry out of Darkness._

 _*Elemental Manipulation (Level 18)_

 _Focus your energy on the world around you to either create or use any elements that you have previously unlocked to assist you in combat._

 _Cost (MP): Varies depending on what is being used. Costs MP to both cast and to continue manipulating said element. Costs more if caster must create an element from nothing._

 _Possible elements: Lightning (Level 17), Earth (Level 10), Fire (Level 3), Darkness (Level 7), Light (Level 1), ? (Yet to be unlocked)_

 _Possible Catalysts: The Body, Staff, Wand, Enchanted weaponry_

 _*Grimm den cleared out! The Emerald forest has become marginally safer as a result of your actions._

 _For clearing out your first Grimm den, You got 5000 Lien, which has been sent to your inventory!_

 _*You got 26743 EXP!_

 _You levelled up!_

 _You suddenly feel alot better about yourself!_

 _You got 3 END!_

 _You got 1 VIT!_

 _You got 2 STR!_

 _*For using your surroundings to: Collapse the cavern with earth magic rather than waste MP fighting the Grimm normally, You have gained 2 WIS!_

"You'd better believe I feel alot better about myself. I should spend my stat points this time, I'm not going to be...pleased...if they all get deleted again. I should probably put all 5 of them into DEX, because I need to be more agile. I can't just tank hits while hurling infinite lightning about in the tournament, I'll run out of Mana too quickly like that. Wait...I get money for running into caves and killing Grimm? Sweeeet."

 _Leo Helios (level 22)_

 _Titles: "The Storm"_

 _Semblance: 'g'ods Gift (The 'Gamer')_

 _Age 17_

 _Gender: Male_

 _Height: 7"3_

 _Notable equipment:_

 _Leo's Jacket: Elemental defence_

 _Ring of the Sun: ?_

 _HP: 280/280_

 _MP: 18/350_

 _Aura level: 10%_

 _Unspent Stat points: 0_

 _STR: 27 (Physical Strength)_

 _DEX: 25 (Physical Agility, Combat Skill, Other Miscellaneous things associated with Dexterity.)_

 _END: 23 (HP regen, Physical Endurance)_

 _VIT: 28 (Max HP)_

 _INT: 30 (Spell damage, MP regen)_

 _WIS: 35 (Max MP)_

 _CHA: 22 (Ability to convince others. Affects Speech Stat.)_

'That'll have to do, I suppose. My stats are pretty balanced now. Nothing is too high, aside from WIS, that is.'

With the sun finally rising and his thoughts finally...relatively clear, Leo headed back to Beacon to go get some breakfast. 'I really should've just gone back to sleep.'

A fair few people stared as the Mage strolled through Beacon. Then again, he was still covered in Grimm blood that had yet to evaporate, so he looked like someone had dumped a bucket of tar on top of his head. He casually wandered into the cafeteria, got himself a bowl of cereal and went to go sit in his usual spot at the third bench of RWBHY and JNPR's table.

As he sat down, Leo noticed that all 7 of the people present, Jaune being the only one who wasn't there, were staring at him. "Uhhh, morning?" He said hesitantly as his eyes fluttered between everyone. 'Why are they all staring at me?'

Weiss was the first to speak up. Nearly all of the Grimm blood had dissipated, though he still had quite a noticeable amount on him. "Leo? Why...why on Remnant are you covered in Grimm blood?"

The Mage looked down at himself and simply shrugged. "Oh...I couldn't sleep, so I went out to the Emerald forest to wake myself up."

Out of all of them, Pyrrha seemed to be the only one with a response to that. "You...wanted to...wake yourself up?... So you went out into a Grimm-infested forest by yourself to do so?"

Considering how he had walked into the tunnel, manipulated the darkness to crush some of the Grimm, then just collapsed the whole thing with earth manipulation, Leo thought nothing of their reactions as he began to eat his breakfast. "Yeah, I may have gotten a bit carried away, though. How come?" He continued to look around the table, his fiery orange eyes darting about at random. Upon hearing that he got 'carried away', NPR and RWBY's eyes all collectively widened, Weiss even choked on her food for a second.

Nora, of course, seemed completely ecstatic. "YOU got Carried away?! Ooooo, What'dya fight?"

The Valkyrie's reaction, which was one of childlike curiosity, compared to everyone else's apprehensive awe and shock, brought a smile to his face. "Well I found this cave, it had a couple Beowolves, a few Ursai, a King Taijitu, who was off in the corner sulking, and...What could only be called a whole goddamn army of Creeps. Though, the cave isn't really...there...anymore."

Upon hearing that, the entire table was silenced. Until Nora and Yang eventually spoke up. "WOAH, THAT'S AWESOME!" was the former's response, while the latter grew a smug, sultry smirk. "Damn Sparks, all because you couldn't sleep? You must be excited about sooomething~...I wonder what it could be...?"

Rather than give her the honest comeback of 'Nah, had a nightmare', Leo simply shrugged. "Yeah, I guess I am pretty excited, to be honest..."

Before Yang could begin to roar with laughter or do whatever else she had planned, Leo continued. "I mean, I'm gonna get some stuff to make my sword finally, so I guess that's what got me pretty restless."

The brawler glared at the Titan for a moment, who tried his best to simply look innocent and oblivious, before she gave up and went back to eating her breakfast.

Blake, on the other hand, was still worried about her teammate. He hadn't mentioned his nightmare, instead, he just dodged the question and came up with some quick excuse. Plus, he had gone out and fought a cave full of Grimm because of said nightmare, before seemingly destroying said cave. 'He probably just needed to blow off some steam...Though, going into a cave and slaughtering a bunch of Grimm because of a bad dream sounds...a bit extreme.'

After breakfast, team RWBHY went down to Vale via bullhead. As they flew towards Vale, Weiss suddenly realised something, 'Wait a moment...when he got to Beacon, he had no clue how Lien worked...I don't think he has a job either...' "Leo...?!"

The Mage turned his head and looked at her quizzically. "Yeah?"

"Do...You don't have any money, do you?" The very thought of him not having any money brought a variety of reactions:

Yang was still smiling, at least now she could make a joke or two about buying him a drink.

Ruby was worried, now he wouldn't be able to buy any parts for his sword.

Blake sighed quietly, 'of course he doesn't.'

Weiss looked like she was about to call him a 'buffoon' or something, but Leo quickly interrupted her.

"Of course I do. I've got..." Leo held his scroll out in front of him, placing his hand on the back of it so nobody could see that he wasn't actually looking at his balance on his scroll, but on his inventory window, which he opened up in front of said scroll.

"...5000 Lien."

And with that, their faces all dropped. Each of them had their own reactions, Blake and Ruby's eyes widened, but they said nothing

Weiss and Yang on the other hand..."How?!" Said the former.

"Buy me a drink?" Said the latter.

The Mage nodded to Yang before turning to Weiss. "Well, to put it simply..." The heiress stared at him expectantly as he thought up an excuse. 'Shit! How do I explain this!?...I'll just have to play the: "My grandfather is totally real and had money" card.'

"...My Grandfather had an account set up for me a while ago with a bit of money in it. He told Ozpin, who told me."

That quick-witted excuse managed to satiate everyone's curiousity, Yang especially, considering how she leaned forward slightly with her arms crossed under her chest. "Soooo, Sparks~? When we all go out for that drink..."

Leo turned to her with a deadpan look. "You want me to pay for everybody's drinks, don't you, Yang?"

The blonde's expression was suddenly filled with mock betrayal. She held a hand over her heart in such a dramatic sense that it looked like she had been shot. "I never said anything like that! But, if you insist...well a girl can't say no to a free drink, can she~?"

Everyone except Leo was glaring at Yang at this point, until the brunette in question clapped his hands loudly. "Right! So, it looks like I'm paying for everybody's drinks..."

The three members of RWB stared at the Mage with expressions of pure confusion, while the blonde brawler's arms shot into the sky, she almost punched a hole in the roof of the bullhead. "YES!"

"...Except for Ruby and Yang. Ruby, your too young to drink and Yang's the one who came up with idea to go to a club, so she pays for her own." And with that, three expressions of shock suddenly became a bit more cheerful. Everyone on the Bullhead was suddenly content with their happy grins and smirks.

Except for Yang, of course. "Oumdammit..."

Once the group had landed in Vale, each of them decided to split off to go do their own things:

Blake went to Tuksons book trade to get...a totally regular book...yes, that's it, a REGULAR book...

Yang and Weiss decided to go to two seperate clothing stores to get themselves more clothes and find some...appropriate styles for Leo.

Ruby Dragged Leo off to find some parts for his sword. More specifically, they went to a boar Faunus called 'Maverick' to buy some decent metal. After a bit of money and time, they eventually left Maverick's store with a 'pretty much unbeatable' metal and some assorted pieces such as leather for the grip and other bits and bobs.

Once the two had gotten the metal and a few other parts, they got a call from Weiss. She had apparently found 'suitable clothing' for Leo and wanted him to 'give his opinion'.

As the two made their way to the Heiress's location, the Mage decided to start up a conversation in the best way he knew how: By sighing before speaking. "Today was a bad idea, wasn't it?"

The Reaper of RWBHY tilted her hand in a so-so gesture, "eehhh. I mean, I WOULD rather just get these parts back to Beacon and help you make 'Deathless', buuut YANG would just end up dragging you away to buy you some more clothes if we did, sooooo."

"Yeah, probably. Still, I don't really NEED more clothes, I look fine in what I'm wearing. Plus, I do laundry every day, so its not like I'm struggling to find clean clothes."

Ruby shot him a glance before mindlessly nodding to herself. "Yeah, you look fine...-" As she registered what she had said so carelessly, Ruby's face became about as red as her hood. "I-I mean! Not like that! IMeanYesYouLookGoodButIWasn'tMeaningItInTheWayThatPeopleSayItInWhenThey'reInterestedInGoingOnDatesAndStuffLikeThatSooo..."

The Mage attempted to stifle his laughter. Needless to say, he failed miserably. "Chill. I know what you mean, Ruby. Chill."

As if on cue, the two came across the store where Weiss was. "Hey, Ruby?"

The leader tilted her head inquisitively. "Yeah?"

"Y'know how I said to you 'Chill' just now? Well, Weiss is here...and her nickname is Ice Queen, right?"

The two shared a brief moment of eye contact before also sharing a small laugh as they entered the store, where they were greeted by Weiss, in all of her usual kindness. "What on all of Remnant took you two so long?"

Ruby attempted to fix the situation herself, as a leader should...right? "Weeell, Weiss...Y'see..." She trailed off, evidently withering under her partner's icy gaze.

Noticing this, Leo stepped forward slightly so Weiss's gaze couldn't pierce their leader anymore than it already had. "Sorry we took so long, Weiss. There were... alot of options when it came to the type of metal for my sword, plus...we had to find a... re-tractability mechanism that would work for the blade, yeah..." The Heiress's icy stare tried and failed to bore into the Warm, fiery gaze of the Mage.

Despite his many and extensive pauses that made it rather obvious that his excuse was a complete lie, his answer seemed to satisfy the Heiress, who simply turned away and motioned for them to follow.

'I..don't think she bought that. Though I'm not sure why she got annoyed, we walked straight over here when we got her message...' The Mage turned to the Reaper as they strolled through the shop, heading in the general direction that Weiss had. "Hey, did we really take that long to get here? I mean, we had already left the store by the time she called." A slightly disgruntled shrug was all he got as a response.

All things considered, the day went pretty well. He got some new clothes, Yang wasn't as...passive-aggressive to them when he got to the store she had picked out, Blake got her smut. "IT'S ART!"...umm, right...Blake got her...reading material. Eventually, the team went out to a club , where Leo and Yang ended up blacking out halfway through their drinking contest, so the other three ended up having to haul them through both Vale and Beacon before curfew hit.

On the bright side, Leo won the drinking contest, and had continued to drink excessively after Yang passed out, just to show how much he had won by.

-The Next Day-

"AAAHHHHH!"

Leo woke up to the sound of someone falling out of bed. More specifically, Yang falling out of her bunk bed.

The blonde and the Mage had been the only ones who were even in their beds, with Blake, Weiss and Ruby all having collapsed, seemingly from exhaustion, in various places about the dorm's floor.

"Ugghhh, whyyyy?" Yang's voiced groaned out from under her, she had landed flat on her face.

The Mage sat up in his own bed, pressing a hand to the side of his head as his hangover began its onslaught. "I have...no clue. Yang, you good?" He bothered to ask that because she had gone from screaming whilst falling out of bed to completely immobile.

Without even moving to acknowledge him in the slightest, Yang mumbled again. "Yeaap, doin great..."

Her reaction managed to bring a smile to his face. Without another word, Leo stumbled out of bed and went off to find a few bottles of water. 'Nope, not just bottles. I'm going for whole goddamn gallons.'

As he swung the door open, He came face-to-face with three of the members of JNPR, those three being NPR, who had just left their dorm to go get some breakfast. Each of them had their own reactions when they saw a ragged, hungover Leo standing in the doorway with three unconscious girls and one semi-unconscious girl, who was currently groaning, scattered about the floor.

Nora immediately blushed up a storm, whilst also having an expression that was somewhere between 'shit-eating grin' and 'absolutely mortified' "LEO! YOU...YOU SCOUNDREL!"

Ren's eyes widened slightly, but he said nothing. 'Somehow, I feel like the obvious answer isn't the right one...'

Pyrrha grew a blush that almost mirrored her hair, as she drew her own conclusion as to what had...transpired. "Leo...!? Did...did you..?"

The Mage noticed this, looked back into his dorm and turned back to NPR with an annoyed expression. "No. Me and Yang got hammered at a club after we all went down to Vale for the day, we both blacked out...I think, and the other three collapsed from...I'd guess from exhaustion, because none of them wanted to join in our drinking contest. They were probably pretty tired after dragging us back."

As if on cue, Yang raised one arm into the air. "I can confirm this. I remember almost vomiting on Blake."

NPR seemed to collectively breathe a sigh of relief. Ren was the first to speak up when he realised something. "Oh...Well, if you and Yang got drunk, I would assume you two have a hangover?"

Ren's simple statement of fact would probably be soon followed up by a simple show of friendship, probably in the form of offering to get the two a drink each.

Though Nora had other priorities. "You two had a drinking contest?! Who won?!"

Despite the headache that was probably life-threatening, Leo stood up tall against the doorframe, while his expression swiftly went from annoyed to proud and smug. "Me, of course. I ended up continuing for fun after she gave up. Though my headache is telling me that was a bad idea."

From across the room, the Brawler's head popped up. "You mean 'Blacked out', don't you? Not 'Gave up'...Hey, Sparks...could you go get me a drink?"

"Sure, just water?"

As Yang's head flopped back down onto the ground, she mindlessly mumbled her response. "..Yeaaap..."

Before he could begin what would most certainly be a hellish trudge to find some water, Ren held up a hand to stop him. "If you would like, I could go fetch you both some water."

The Mage stared at the Ninja for a moment before nodding slowly. "Yeah, that'd be great, thanks Ren..."

 ** _The day passed by rather terribly for all of RWBHY._**

Leo and Yang were dealing with their hangover for the decent portion of the day, making anything and everything a rather difficult prospect. The two simply lounged about their dorm for the day, with Yang going off to the school's gym for a bit to practice.

Ruby wanted to get started on Leo's sword, though he vetoed that idea, saying that he wanted to make it when he didn't have a hangover, so her day was immediately ruined.

Weiss wanted to study with her team. More specifically, she wanted to steal their resident Mage's notes from Grimm studies, though he said that trying to translate it hurt his head. She simply resorted to studying on her own, whilst being accompanied by Ruby later on.

Blake stayed in the dorm for the entire day, reading her new book...which totally wasn't smut...not at all...Though if her occasional blush was anything to go by, it totally was.

 **END:**

 **Sorry for the wait and shorter-than-usual chapter, I just couldn't think how to do this one, next is gonna be a timeskip over to Forever Fall though.**

 **If you don't know what 'Deathless' looks like, just google 'Deathless the Hobbit', or something along those lines.**


	6. Chapter 6: Forever Fall

**...If I'm going to be totally honest, my lack of updates has been due to a few things.**

 **1\. I ended up in a fight during the long string of exams that have been going on. Now, while it wasn't the first fight that I had gotten into over the past few months, it did leave me with a broken nose, clavicle and a fractured ulna on my left side (One of two bones on the forearm, the one on the side of your pinky).**

 **That was annoying and made me feel a tad less motivated to write new stuff, though I have updated chapter 2 a bit, along with a few tweaks to chapter 1, but the ones on the first chapter aren't really worth considering 'proper edits', as its just touch-ups, rather than adding story stuff like I did in chapter 2.**

 **On the plus side, I didn't lose the fight and I didn't miss any exams, so thats nice.**

 **2\. Exams are a bitch and I had to study a wee bit.**

 **3...Honestly, this part of the excuses is just a bit of me actually forgetting that I had a fanfic that I was writing, was binging other fanfics and otherwise simply just not writing this in my minimal spare time.**

 **So...yeah. Sorry about that. I'm inconsistent, that also being the title of my future autobiography, but also yeah, I'm about as consistent as 3-month old milk that has been put into a large bowl and then into the microwave for about 3 minutes.**

 **I apologise for that mental imagery.**

 **Chapter 6: Forever Fall**

After a few weeks of intense study that took up all of his free time, Leo was slowly getting closer to catching up to everyone else.

He was doing _almost_ as well as everybody else in Grimm studies, considering how he was the only one that could even find anything useful in Port's outlandish tales, though everyone else had some prior knowledge that they had, unlike Leo. Some of the more intelligent students could find some things to take notes on during Port's lessons, but that was usually only the case if they recorded the entire story and sifted through it later.

As to them, it was more like a giant riddle.

Though, to be fair...

It kinda was.

Due to how he spent all of his free time studying, he was...getting closer to being a slightly below-average student in History, though he was a fair ways behind everyone else.

In most other classes, he was either going from 'No knowledge whatsoever' to 'Maybe-Barely-Passing'.

Combat class? Yeah, he was doing just Fiiiiiine on that front. Though he never bothered to spar unless Goodwich specifically called him down, instead preferring to look over notes from other classes and read through various books to help him get up-to-date with what's considered to be 'Average' in terms of knowledge for a person in Remnant.

As a result of his few duels, Leo figured something out.

Pure Magic damage does WAY more damage than any elemental attack, which led him to try and level up his ' _Mana Manipulation_ ' spell. While it cost alot more Mana to use than...say, lightning attacks, it has the benifits of both ignoring any and all armour and the added damage...which, if he could just get that accursed spell cost down, would be very useful.

Plus its more versatile! which means that magical blue napalm is a possbility.

As of now, However. Team RWBHY was simply lounging about on their beds. Except Weiss and Leo, who were studying at each of the room's two desks.

The Heiress in question had given some thought to the prospect of figuring out how to transate things into English, but quickly gave up after the Mage quickly explained both how bullshit the language was and how she would never find a use for that skill outside of his notes. "Wait, so...If English is such a useless language, why do you know it?"

"I...Dunno. I just grew up learning it."

And just like that, Leo had slaughtered a conversation at bayonet-point. 'Just like what the "English" did with children of all ethnicities...slaughtered them at bayonet point for no reason whatsoever aside from "He's Indian and doesn't want to work in our 15th colonial tech support company or the 195th Adidas Tracksuit-making factory"...Okay, yeah, I need to sleep...maybe I could go and do a bit of practice for once though?'

He was of course referring to practice with his new sword, 'Deathless'. After he got all of the necessary materials, Leo had found that his semblance could just...magic up the sword for him. What's even better is that the retractable blade goes all the way back into the hilt, making it easily concealable and not very intimidating until its too late. The sword can also be summoned to hand, after a bit of magic is thrown about, that is. Which makes the usual hinderance of being disarmed...not really much of a problem anymore. He could leave it in his locker and summon it instantly whenever he needs it, which is rather useful.

Though the idea of zapping a something into existance with a simple block of metal and some leather sounds awesome in theory, people would probably get suspicious of how he suddenly gained a sword out of nowhere, and within a day no less! Considering how he had only left the campus once and had never stepped a foot into Beacon's forge, that would maybe raise a few eyebrows. Ruby would also probably kill him if she found out that he had made it without her.

Oh yeah, Leo had decided to keep the fact that he had already made the sword a secret, until further notice, that is.

Anyways, 'Deathless' had a few notable qualities aside from the retractable blade and the summoning act. It had two different types if dust embedded into it...Okay, well it's got magical enchantments engraved into it, which can be fueled by Mana and can hold a bit of MP in them to act as a form of storage, but it does the same things that dust would.

The two enchantments that have been embedded into the blade are simple elemental ones, Fire and Ice. The idea was that this would allow him to perform lesser feats of other forms of magic and just play it off as dust casting. Due to the enchantments, the edge of the blade glows with their corresponding colour slightly, with a pale blue for ice and a reddish-orange for fire. Along with that, small sparks of mana that correspond with the enchantment colour float off the blade at random whenever he activates it. For Ice, these 'Sparks' show up as small snowflakes, whilst Fire comes off as small embers.

Activation of the enchantment, along with various lesser feats of magic, allow for other things...things that he knows well and can think up easily. The Mage, being a fan of "Dark Souls", decided that he wanted the sword to work like the 'Abyss watchers' boss's sword, meaning that when he slashes, a wave of either ice or fire follows along the tip and edge of the blade, extending its range about a foot longer than usual. ***(If you wanna know what this attack looks like, look up the 'Abyss watchers' bossfight and skip until the second phase, where the boss's attacks looks like he is waving around a flamethrower, rather than a sword.)***

This attack can also be more of a ranged attack, if a bit more Mana is thrown into the mix then the magic won't just FOLLOW the sword, it will be sent out at in a wave, kinda like how some huntsmen can perform an 'aura slash', which essentially fires their aura like a blade.

Except...y'know...he can now do it with magical fire and ice, rather than Aura and/or Dust...

Though, him not making the sword with Ruby does come with its own problem, one he will eventually be forced to address.

The Reaper in question was simply reading a comic book on her bunk bed, whilst the Mage was sat on his own bed in the corner of the room listening to some music. 'Do I tell her now?...Naaaa, it'll be fiine.'

About twenty minutes later, Ruby went off to go do something and Leo, much like the other 3 sane members of the team, simply went to bed rather than go off do whatever it was she was going to do and then give a depressed Jaune inspirational speeches. 'I'd assume that's what's gonna happen...it did in the show, then again I shouldn't really treat the events of the show as words from god anymore...Plus, I've already given him a speech and I doubt that I can think of another on the fly.' Despite his thoughts, Leo still had to resist the urge to go and either talk to Jaune or kick CRLD's door down to attack Cardin, the former of which he had been doing ever since Cardin started picking on him.

While the latter of which...well, there have been a few times that he had volunteered to spar in combat class.

Unlike everyone else, Leo had the bright idea to simply start sitting and hanging out with Jaune and team CRDL, both to piss off Cardin and to make Jaune feel less lonely. Surprisingly enough, the blonde had been confiding to the Mage occassionally about things that he hadn't and 'wouldn't' tell his team. While Jaune had been growing more distant from RWBY and NPR, Leo had become something akin to the Knight's best friend, second to Ruby, that is.

Occassionally the Mage made to hang out with Jaune when he was around his bullies, though his knightly friend was the only reason he was there. CRDL always seemed uncomfortable whenever he was around, and for good reason. Though they learned that Leo wasn't there to kick the shit out of them for his amusement, just to hang out with their 'new friend' for a bit and to make sure that things didn't get too out of hand. So they let him, knowing that while they could blackmail Jaune into telling him to leave, the Mage was an everlooming threat that would find out if and why the knight got expelled before promptly skinning the four members of Team CRDL with a toothpick.

Plus, despite how Cardin had bitched and moaned to his father, who was a Valean councilman, the man in question suddenly found his hands tied, as a certain spectacled headmaster had...had a chat with him, assuring him that the situation would best be handled within the school.

For whatever reason, the 'oh-so-cunning' leader of CRDL hadn't decided to get the Mage to avoid them. Which they totally could, as they could just hold Jaune getting expelled above his head until Leo stopped.

But they didn't, and that's all that matters.

Perhaps Cardin thought that the Mage was just seeing if he could scare him into the same situation that they had Jaune in...or maybe he thought that if his father suddenly couldn't do anything about him, then Leo must have some massive stings that he could pull...Or...maybe it just was something else entirely, who knows?

As he thought more about the events of RWBY, Leo suddenly realised a couple of things. 'Should I tell Ozpin that Cinder is bad and the tournament will be attacked? Do I tell Ironwood that his ships have been hacked? What would he do if I told him?...Will I even let Cinder hack everything, or do I stop her? If I let her hack stuff, which would make her think that her plan is fine, then do I tell people that there's a virus and everything has been compromised to help stop the fall of Beacon?...Why is this so difficult? Fuck it, I'm going to bed, I've got time to figure this out...Maybe I could just get powerful enough to go invisible and phase through their door when they get here and kill them in their sleep before anyone realises...Nobody would notice 3 missing students who aren't really students if all they found was some ash following wind currents...right?'

After a few moments of contemplating the morality of the situation and wondering to himself why he didn't think about killing Neo, the exhausted Mage sighed, thinking about what Rooster Teeth had planned for her after Torchwick died, considering how there hadn't even been a glimpse of the Ice cream-themed assassin since she was dragged off that Atlesian battleship by her own parasol. 'And that brings me to another issue...Do I let Torchwick die if I let the battle for Beacon happen, or do I help him get away from Cinder in return for...not playing his part in the plan?...goddammit...Or do I somehow arrange a meeting with him and show him his own death scene after I...I dunno, maybe make a spell that shows my memories in some hologram-type thing?...Seeing your own death would be enough to make you listen, right?'

Though, through all of his thoughts, he still had a plan for a new spell.

No, not the 'memories' hologram thing, this spell was a defensive one.

One that he could hopefully be able to use alongside his lightning and Mana manipulation...

One that hopefully wouldn't be as useless as it was in Skyrim.

 **-The Next Day-**

Today was the day of the field trip to Forever fall. The team's resident Mage, who had realised just how long Yang takes to do her hair, got up first to have a quick shower. After he was done, he washed his face, brushed his hair and 'inventory'd' his 'combat clothes' on. 'Lovely'

His combat gear consisted of a orange t-shirt, his faded black leather jacket, some simple black combat boots and some new blue jeans.

In short, he had no combat clothes, as this was also one of his now numerous sets of casual clothing. 'And now I also have no money...thanks Weiss and Yang...'

Once his gear had been equipped and he had stopped grumbling to himself about how he didn't need twenty-two different outfits, Leo took a good look at himself in the mirror. Humming, he thought to himself that a few pieces of armour wouldn't go amiss. 'Because being able to tank hits without a care in the world is exactly what I need.'

He finished up in the shower within about 5 minutes, which is record time for anybody on the team, much better than Yang's 1-hour showers.

The Dragoness glared at the Mage with ill-concealed contempt as he casually strolled over to his bed and began to listen to some music whilst everyone else got ready, a knowing smirk painted on his face in response to the Brawler's almost baleful gaze. Considering how she takes a good portion of an hour to just do her hair, seeing someone go from 'Just woke up and I look like shit' to 'I'm ready to become a male model now' over a span of 5 minutes would be rather annoying.

 **-Breakfast-**

As team RWBHY sat in the cafeteria eating breakfast, Leo spotted Jaune handing the leader of team CRDL a rather inconspicuous-looking cardboard box over by one of the tables that sat close to one of the walls. The blonde tried to leave immediately afterwards, though Cardin tapped him on the shoulder and muttered a few words, which had Jaune quickly moving to sit by his new 'friends'.

"Hey! Remnant to Sparkles!" A hand waved infront of his face, the action of which caused some long golden hair to flick about behind whoever was trying to get his attention.

And so Leo, being a...sophisticated sort, promptly said the most articulate thing that he could. "Huh?"

"Geez, space cadet, you done trying to float away yet?" A certain blonde brawler teased. "Whatcha lookin at?" Yang questioned, following where his gaze was previously cemented until she spotted Jaune sitting with team CRDL. The blonde knight in question had his head down, simply nodding whenever Cardin gestured to him. "Oh..."

"Yeah..." He mumbled. Yang looked back to the team's resident Mage, more specifically at his hard-to-read expression, which actually looked strangely like a mix between 'Furious rage' and Ren's stoic-ness. After a few moments of this, Leo grabbed his mug of coffee and stood up. Looking back to his team, he said. "I'm gonna go sit with Jaune for a bit, is that ok, Guys?"

Weiss looked slightly annoyed, likely due to how he hadn't been spending much time with the team due to his studies and how he often hung out with Jaune. Blake simply nodded and shrugged, while Ruby looked at the Mage, then over to the depressed Knight before turning her gaze back to Leo, both of whom had the same determined expression plastered on their faces. "Want us to come with you?"

"Nah, I don't think that would go down all too well. Besides, I have...something else in mind rather than just beating them all up...again." He replied as he made his way across the cafeteria, promptly ignoring the popup from ' _Hero's complex_ ' as best he could, though the glint in his eyes told everyone that he was a bit more than annoyed right now.

Hushed murmers and whispers followed the Mage's slow and methodical steps as he made his way across to CRDL. Everyone could tell where he was going after a few moments, but not what he was going to do. Some of the whispers were annoyed, some were excited, mainly because the last time that Leo had approached CRDL in the cafeteria, the bullies got absolutely crushed by what could only be labelled as 'An unnecessary amount of lightning that either made or ruined everybody's day'. And thats not even mentioning how he managed to scare Goodwich with nothing more than a glare!

Eventually, one of the more perceptive members of the bully team, Dove Bronzewing, heard someone mutter: "Oooh, they're soo fucked!", which understandably caught his attention. Swivelling his head around, the brunette felt his heart stop out of fear for a moment as he saw the Mage smiling as he made his way towards them, occassionally taking a sip from his coffee.

Leo had never come to sit with them in...well, anything! He only ever talked with Jaune for a bit whenever the two saw each other or helped him with his extra papers that CRDL piled onto him and some simple physical training. Which the Mage was, honestly, one of the best in Beacon at.

More importantly, he had never once smiled at any of them. Yet there he was, making eye contact with Dove and giving him a 'friendly' grin, which looked like he was either about to laugh or turn around and shoot someone before making a quote from some green-haired white-skinned comic book villain, maybe even both. "Hey, Cardin?" He said, not taking his eyes off the approaching electrical generator, who had a strange glint in his eye that sent cold shivers up Dove's spine.

Unfortunately, his leader seemed a bit preoccupied with his 'conversation' that he was having with Jauney-boy, though the other two members of CRDL caught on to what was happening pretty quick.

Cardin, on the other hand, was currently leaning his weight to the side with one arm over Jaune, who had hunched down slightly as the former lead a conversation between the two.

Sky tapped a finger on the table loudly to catch his leader's attention, knowing all too well how the Mage was getting closer with every step. "Oi, Boss? We might have an issue."

The burnt-haired titan snapped his head back to the duo, who sat on the opposite side of the table from him, Russel and Jauney-boy. "Well, why don't you two handle it then?..." The two weren't looking at him at this point, they were both looking off to Cardins right.

Following their gaze, his heart promptly curled into a ball. "Uuh, hey Leo...Need something?"

The Mage gave each of them a 'friendly' smile, which only served to unnerve them more. He never smiled at them. Never.

Meanwhile, in Leo's mind: ' _Holy shit this is fun_ '

"Oh, no. I was just wondering if it would be alright if I were to sit with you for breakfast?" Not waiting for a response, the Mage casually walked over to the opposite side from where Cardin sat before setting himself down next to a concerned Dove. "Thanks. Hey Dove, how've you been?" He started, seemingly oblivious to how tense everybody, excluding Jaune who simply looked like he was trying to hide his obvious relief, at the table was.

The Brunette in question took a deep breath before turning his head slightly to look at the living electrical generator. "Uhh, I've been good, y'know how it is. Yourself?"

"Ah, you now how it is. I've been getting better with my studies and Pyrrha wants to duel me in combat class tomorrow to see who would win. Speaking of combat class..." Team CRDL collectively winced as they realised where this was going. Cardin in paticular felt a sudden jab of pain in his shoulder where he had been literially struck by lightning in their last spar.

As in, a bolt of lightning broke through the roof and one-shot him only a few moments after the spar began.

Granted, it took all of Leo's mana to do that, but all the others could see is that the Mage's aura was still at 100% after shattering someone's aura in a single hit.

Safe to say, people _really_ started talking about him afterwards.

That, and Glynda had the roof rebuilt and reinforced so that he couldn't do that again.

'Goddammit Miss Goodwich, let me have my fun!'

The Mage looked like he was about to suggest something involving seeing how many times he could throw Russel into a wall as if he was an improvised spear before his aura shattered, before quickly stopping himself. "...Actually, no. I don't think you would want me to bother you all with a 'boring old spar' in combat class, right?"

Before Russel could bitch out and say something like, "No, we wouldn't mind!" in a panic, Cardin leaned forward and tilted his head to the side a few times. Clearly, he had realised that Leo wasn't actively preparing to rip them in half for bullying Jaune.

Though, to be honest with himself, Cardin was actually surprised that they managed to pull this off. They get Jaune's help with whatever they want, while the Mage helps Jaune because they're good buds, it's perfect! "Eh, you're about right there. We're behind in our studies ourselves and we've still gotta do some stuff about our teamwork in combat before we try team fights."

Leo nodded his head in acceptance, though that damned smile never once moved off of his face. "Ah, gotcha. Well, I was also thinkin tha-"

Before he could continue, Leo was interrupted by both the intercom, signalling that the field trip to Forever Fall was starting soon and that they all had ten minutes to get to the airship landing pads.

"-Damn...Oh well, we can just...pick up this conversation later." The enthusiastic Mage said, while that damned smile didn't even budge from his face.

 **-Later-**

After Leo had forcibly been moved away from CRDL out of 'Goodwich's fear of him killing 4 students out of ill-hidden hatred', Leo resigned himself to simply watching over them from afar.

Glancing down at a message that had just popped up, he was reminded exactly why he felt as if he had to do so.

* _You felt Hero's complex kick in_.*

'Oh, right. I still don't think those stat buffs were worth this.'

Despite what Ms Goodwich and the rest of his team had recommended, a certain Mage had decided to stray a bit from where he was 'allowed' to go, though he was still roughly within a 15m radius of everyone else. "Damn, this forest is awesome..." He muttered aloud. Most people would instantly crumble and listen to Goodwich, though the Mage obviously believed the idea of that was little more than a joke.

Because what the fuck was she going to do about it? Expel him?! She knew he had magic and there isn't a doubt in Leo's mind that she knows how powerful magic users are.

No, the only thing she can do is make sure that he doesn't suddenly up and go for the Salem route. 'Which is stuppiiiid...then again...Ozpin IS a shifty little shit...Damn I wish volume 6 had released BEFORE I ended up in Remnant...'

Goodwich's emerald gaze locked onto him for a moment as she turned her head slightly whilst addressing the class, which only consisted of teams CRDL, JNPR and RWB(H)Y. "Yes students, while the forest of Forever Fall is indeed, as Mr Helios described, rather...beautiful, It houses many dangerous Grimm, some of which we may be forced to encounter. Professor Peach has instructed that all of you are to collect various samples of sap from the trees that lay deep within this forest. I am acting as your chaperone for this assignment, and to make sure that none of you die while completing your task."

As she finished speaking, the Deputy suddenly stopped, which proved to be rather annoying for everybody that was actually with the group like they were supposed to be, though a certain Mage wasn't bothered by her sudden stoppage for obvious reasons. Jaune, who was both not looking where he was going and carrying various jars of sap, accidentially bumped into Cardin, who shot him a threatening glare as Goodwich continued, though that glare was turned into something else as he looked back and saw the Mage simply shaking his head at him.

The combat instructor was completely unaware of how Leo, who was in her blind spot, had began to casually wander away from the group, eventually disappearing behind a treeline after his silent threat to Cardin.

Goodwich continued to explain what they would be doing for a minute or two. Even going as far as to talk about some of the types of Grimm usually found here and some boring old forest myth about a family of bear Faunus who constantly gorged themselves on the sap found within the trees, until the very fateful day that they turned into Ursas.

That story was one that Port had recommended to her, considering how Far-fetched and unrealistic it was.

At least it wasn't as boring as it usually was, when a monotone Goodwich told it.

"-Each of you are to gather a single jar's worth of this red sap. As I mentioned beforehand, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm..." Despite her stern tone, Glynda noticed that not many students were even paying attention, even Weiss, one of her most focused students was looking past her! 'They obviously aren't looking at a Grimm, considering how I can't sense any and someone surely would've said or done something...Wait...it's him, isn't it?...Just...take a deep breath...and continue like nothing's wrong...'

Rather than instantly turn and scold her second least favourite Magical person ( ** _Ozpin was first, due to infinite paperwork_** ), she knew that he didn't care about minor punishments like detentions, as they just gave him a nice and quiet place to study. He evidently knew that he intrigued Ozpin enough to not get suspended or expelled, so he essentially did whatever he wanted, when he wanted. Though what he wanted seemed to simply boil down to: Become more intelligent, become stronger, figure out if Nora's semblance has a limit to how much electricity it can absorb and piss off Ozpin at EVERY. OUMDAMN. CHANCE...At least he maintains the decency to not go overboard with his schemes, limiting them to some 'light verbal sparring', as Ozpin would put it.

'I would assume that he's knows how useful and rare Magic is, and is abusing that mercilessly. Considering how he has done nothing but test Ozpin's and my own limits for the entire time that he has been here...I wonder if he knows about...the bigger picture, or not.'

Now...don't get them wrong, Some of these students would certainly LOVE to listen to what she was saying _***Cough,**_ _Only Weiss,_ _ **Cough***_ , considering how it DID seem pretty important, but the fact that Leo had just meandered back into the clearing, swinging two small Ursa arms about in his hands as if they were some strange weapon and was completely covered in buckets worth of tar-like Grimm blood, whatever she was saying seemed pretty boring in comparison...

That and Goodwich had just talked about bear people in this forest.

"-So be sure to stay by your teammates at all times. we will meet back here at 4 o'clock. Have fun." And with that, the three teams, sans Leo, swiftly made their ways off to go and complete their assignment.

The moment Goodwich turned around, her expression went from 'annoyed at whatever was behind her' to 'Bored and confused' as she sighted the Mage wiping some Grimm blood off of his face. "...Mr Helios..."

Glynda paused to take a deep breath. 'How...how does someone so...I can't even find the right words to describe him...how does someone like HIM, possess magic?...At least Ozpin is convinced of his alliegences...' Readjusting her glasses, she spoke in a neutral, yet stern tone. "Please try and stay with your team from now on. Faliure to do so will result in another detention."

Leo, in response, simply gave her one of his usual warm smiles, which at this point, seemed more like a mischevious one to her. "I understand, Miss Goodwich. Though, if I want a good place to study...then it's gonna happen again."

The two stared at one another for a moment with neither one seeming willing to back down. Eventually, Goodwich sighed and unnecessarially re-adjusted her glasses. "I suggest that you refrain from becoming a delinquent in the acadamy in which you currently attend, Mr Helios. Go and meet back up with your team to complete your assignment."

Deciding that there was no point in 'verbally sparring' with her anymore, Leo simply complied and went to go and catch up to the rest of his team.

That is, until he noticed Cardin dragging Jaune off. 'I have an idea...If I stalk them like Sun would to Blake...then I won't be there for Jaune to have to throw the sap at, but Pyrrha will, because she's with the others... Cardin, noticing that I'm not there, will be forced to focus on the only other target, which Jaune won't do! There are basically countless possibilities for this field trip, but I know which one works in Jaune's favour...one where I'm nowhere to be seen...This might work...probably not, but it MIGHT, and thats what I'm betting on...'

The Mage chuckled silently to himself as he stood in the clearing with Goodwich, waiting for everyone else to go out of sight before moving off in the direction where Cardin and Co. went. "Mr Helios, you aren't, by any chance, trying to start a fight with team CRDL again, aren't you?"

Leo simply waved over his shoulder as a response, he didn't turn nor even speak to acknowledge her. Though his thoughts were certainly acknowledging her. 'I reeeaally enjoy annoying her and Ozzy Ozbourne...Though, I do want to get strong enough to feel safe when I get Ozpin's patience to snap. Because I will, its just gonna take some time...Wait, why do I even want to annoy him? Isn't he the one who I DON'T want to do that to?...Oh wait, right...I do it because it's fun, and god knows I need something to break the monotony of studying all the time.'

 **-Later-**

Jaune lugged 6 jars, each full to the brim with the sweet red sap of the trees of Forever Fall, back into the area where CRLD was lounging about. Leo, on the other hand, was sat somewhere out of sight and out of mind...In a tree about 30m away from them where he had a line of sight on them through the various leaves and branches as they swayed lightly in the wind.

The Mage in question, being a curious individual, had taken a liking to the taste of the sap, luckily he brought 5 extra jars for himself, and a straw for such an occassion! 'Its like honey, but better because it isn't sickly sweet, just good sweet...I wonder how this would taste on toast, actually no...I bet some company or something sells this stuff. If one doesn't, they should. They'd make an absolute killing...Then again, I bet some Grimm would also make a killing if they spotted people taking their sap...'

It would appear that the family of bear Faunus from that old myth may have had something there. If only they didn't gorge themselves constantly on...the...sap...just like he is now...

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Unfortunately, Leo, who had both so foolishly chosen a place that was practically out of earshot from team CRDL and had gorged himself on sap to the point where he may or may not be fighting off a 'food coma', ended up laying back on his tree branch and watching their conversation through a gap in the lightly swaying boughs of the trees after chucking the 6 now-empty jars into his inventory.

It was at this point that the Mage spotted a certain item in his inventory.

One which took all of his willpower and self-restraint to not use immediately.

It was the hammock that he had...procured under mysterious circumstances.

Back in Beacon, a student began to daydream about his stolen hammock, more specifically how he would one day get it back from the unknown thief, once he figured out who it was who had taken it in the first place.

That was, until Oobleck noticed his innatentiveness and gave him extra papers, which caused him to sigh angrily. "...Oumdamn hammock thieves..."

After a while, CRDL and Jaune got up to move to a clearing with a short drop on one side. Leo, still groaning as a result of the excess of tree sap that he had just devoured, rolled to his right, dropped like a sack of bricks and casually began to stagger about the forest nearby, this time making sure to NOT violently consume 6 jars worth of tree sap in the span of 30 seconds...and to stay within earshot of their conversation. "Uhh, Cardin? What're we doing here?" The worried blonde questioned. He and team CRDL had a decent view of teams RWBY and JNPR as they collected sap, though, much to Cardin's dismay, a certain Mage was nowhere to be seen.

The Armoured bully thumped his fist on the ground out of frustration. "Dammit, where is he..?...Fuck it, plan B it is, I guess..." He muttered quietly to himself. Cardin took a moment to compose himself before looking over to Jaune, his usual arrogant grin safely back in its rightful place. "Well, Jauney-boy, WE, are here for a bit of payback, and considering your buddy, Thunder-Fuck is off somewhere sticking his dick in a tree or something, we've just gotta take what we can get...I'm still mad about that one time in History class...d'ya see where I'm going with this, buddy?"

The Blonde knight took a moment to comprehend what he had just said, his eyes widening as it dawned on him. "...Pyrrha...?"

As this was panning out, Leo took a sip from the straw in an open jar of sap. He had since managed to refill every single jar in about a minute, due to how he had taken multiple tree taps and gotten lucky with the trees that he picked. The Mage was glad that he had prepared and brought a straw with him. Considering how Nora seemed to enjoy the sap in the show, he was prepared to give it a try, and thus prepped accordingly.

'Goddamn, this stuff is good, I would thrive if I was only given this to eat...well...Drink...What was I doing..? Oh, right, Cardin...wait no, that sounded wrong...I should probably just let their little thing play out, right..? If it all goes how it should, then after this Cardin stops bullying Jaune and he gets training from Pyrrha. If I interfere, then Cardin might not let up and Pyrrha might not train Jaune...' He thought to himself as he continued wandering about, eventually making his way over to the opposite side of the clearing from the short cliffside where CRDL and Jaune were looking down at teams RWBY and NPR.

By the time he found a rather comfortable tree and well-hidden to lean against, the sharp sound of shattering glass echoed throughout the clearing. 'What a waste of sap...Uhh, I mean...Too late to change anything now anyways...is it bad that I want to put Cardin in hospital for getting Jaune to waste good tree sap?...Am I becoming addicted to tree sap?...Naaahhhh, I can stop anytime I want to...I just...really don't want to.' Leo placed his newly-refilled collection of jars in his inventory, keeping the one with the straw in his left hand. 'out of sight, out of mind. Now that I've got all the sap that I need, I should figure out how to make that new spell I want to unlock...I need some Grimm...'

After about thirty seconds and an entire jar of sap, the impatient and likely now sap-addicted Mage stopped sipping from what he suddenly realised was a now-empty jar and scanning the treelines for Grimm to look back at the clearing from his hiding spot. He could see Cardin lifting up Jaune, the burnt-haired bully reared his fist back to punch the blonde in the face, only for a massive flash of light to knock the leader of CRDL back.

'Is that technically his semblance or just his OP aura?...It's times like these when I wish that I had invested time into the fandom...or actually read anything about the series...dammit.'

Before anything more could be done to the pitiful Blonde by the group of bullies, a massive roar ripped through the treeline, alerting everyone to the presence of a massive Ursa as it rumbled into the clearing.

The Ursa's name, once hit with observe, revealed it to be:

 ***Papa Bear**

 **One of the three bears, look out Goldilocks!**

'Ha...Jaune's Goldilocks...Wait a second...ONE of the THREE bears? Are there more? Does that mean I can make this new spell with "trial and error"? Uhh...I mean, "Oh no, I need to stop the other two bears from getting to Jaune and Co.", yeah, definitely that...' Leo thought to himself, whilst the 5 huntsmen-in-training stood frozen in place by the wrathful gaze of the lumbering Beast as it sniffed at the air, eventually Zeroing in on the terrified form of Cardin Winchester and his sap-covered chest. Okay, no...that sounded wrong if taken out of context...'Cardin winchester and his sap covered chest...'...yeah, no...

ANYWAY, IN OTHER NEWS!...The Ursa batted Cardin to the side, a look of shock and betrayal clouding his face as the other three members of his team turned tail and ran, Russel was screaming at the top of his lungs as he abandoned his partner...Like a bitch.

While the armoured bully was casually being tossed about like a ragdoll, a certain Mage had since spotted the other two Ursai rushing through the forest, they were at least 100m away, if not further. He could only see them due to the way the trees were spread out and highly doubted that anyone in the clearing could see them. The duo were probably chasing after the Ursa Major, which had evidently caught the scent of the negativity being emmited by a scarce few people and rushed off to slaughter the group of weaklings.

With only a few seconds of hesitation, Leo stopped leaning on his rather well-hidden tree and moved to draw them away from Jaune and Cardin.

As he got closer, The two Ursai, one of which was a Major that stood a little shorter than its 'papa' counterpart was revealed to be named: *Mama Bear. Whilst the Ursa Minor of the two was known as *Baby Bear

Leo stared at the name for a few moments, eventually pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing as he pieced it together. "God. Fucking. Dammit, semblance." After a few moments of hesitation, the Mage opened his right hand and expended a bit of mana. "Time to give this thing a proper test."

About half of a second later, a tiny flash of white light erupted in his palm, quickly changing shape until it became his newly-created (And sort-of Untested) sword: 'Deathless'

Despite it's looks, the sword was perfectly balanced. It wasn't too heavy in his hand, but it didn't feel too light either. The grip seemed to mould slightly until it fitted his hand perfectly.

The Ursai continued to barrel closer to him, showing no signs or slowing. 'I don't like my chances of fighting two at once with a sword, of all things...at least with that 'Spell damage' debuff that I got from those nightmares...but hey, I have an enchanted catalyst for a reason, right?' He thought to himself as he held out his sword infront of him, aiming the tip at the closest one before flooding the blade with Mana.

Lightning always made a distinct sound when he used it. granted, it wasn't all too loud, but if a certain someone, maybe a currently-depressed blonde knight, heard that he was fighting multiple Grimm off in the distance to protect him, then maybe he wouldn't be all too impressed by his own achievement.

Much to the surprise of the two Grimm, a javelin of ice sprouted out from the tip of the blade and shot over to the beasts the at what would roughly be the speed of an arrow, lodging itself deep in smaller Ursai's left shoulder. 'Shit, I can't aim with this thing. This reminds me of Skyrim though...I always loved playing a Mage build...Staffs were always useless...'

The Ursa minor's barrelling charge slowed down to more of a hurried limp, though it clearly wasn't out of the fight yet. Upon realising that its 'child' was injured, Mama bear unleashed a gutteral roar that ripped through the forest 'Shit. Someone probably heard that...' Foregoing the idea of attempting precise spellcasting with his sword at this point, Leo got into the stance that he felt most comfortable with, his left hand up and ready to...do anything, really, whilst his sword was out to the right.

Whilst he was busy getting into the stance that he liked most when he tested out how a few felt while sparring with bots, 'Mama Bear' violently lunged towards the Mage in an attempt to either crush him under the force of its jaws or just with the sheer overwhelming weight of its monsterous body. Looking back up, Leo, being the intelligent individual that he is, decided to try out that new spell that he kept going on about in his head, without actually having even tried to create it beforehand.

He shut his eyes to help him focus on his thoughts better and held his left hand out infront of him, thinking only about the Grimm not reaching him. He totally didn't shut his eyes out of panic.

He definitley didn't panic. No, not at all. Anyone who would say that he had panicked was clearly either wrong, or insane.

Yes, clearly insane. Which is conveniently the title of what his autobiography would be, if he survived that long in this crazy world, that is.

A second or two passed before Leo cracked open one of his eyes, revealing that 'Mama Bear' had slammed into a mostly transparent wall that had blue-ish white light rippling about the edges. "HA! It worked! Get fucked!"

 _ *****_ _You have created a spell through 'Trial and Error/neccessity'_

 _ *****_ _Ward_ _ **(Level 1)**_ _ *****_ _(For the visual, imagine a ward from Skyrim)_ _ *****_

 _Create a shield/wall that stops the impact and damage of any attack from reaching you, so long as you have the Mana to spend. Essentially the Magical version of Aura-shields._

 _ **Cost:**_ _Mp remains dependant on size of Ward and damage inflicted onto it._

 _ *****_ _Level-ups of this spell will grant greater defence and lowered Mana cost._

 ***The 'Trial and error/neccessity' mechanic of this semblance only works when in a battle of any type, such as spars or 'to the death' fights.**

The Ursa bounced back from his barrier in an almost comical fashion, rolling back a few times until it got up, facing the Mage on all fours. The smaller, injured Ursa decided to stand back and watch 'Mama Bear' try and kick the shit out of a Mage.

Looking back to the clearing, Leo could see through a gap in the trees that Jaune was currently getting the shit kicked out of him by ' **Papa Bear** '

'God...fucking...dammit, Jaune!' The Mage thought to himself he turned his attention back to the Ursa. As it opened its mouth to roar, Leo focused a completely unecessary amount of Magic into his left palm and fired a second ice spike, this one was massive in comparison to the one he had shot at 'Baby Bear', to the point where 'Mama Bear's' jaw instantly broke on impact. Either way, whether or not its jaw was actually broken or not, it now looked like a blackened rottisserie chicken on a spit.

"And THATS for roaring as loud as you did. Someone could've come to investigate, and that would...probably be bad, I don't know why I did that actually, I really went overboard...Oh well, it was fun." Leo said in a mocking tone as he strolled past the disappating bear. Though his slightly amused expression turned to more of a wincing, annoyed one as he saw his current situation.

 ***** _ **HP:**_ _300/300_

 _ **MP:**_ _0/400_

 _ **Aura Levels**_ _: 100%_

'Dammit...maybe I shouldn't have wasted the rest of my Mana in a single attack...at least I know that I can kill an Ursa Major in a single hit...so thats nice. Alright, time to kill an injured child that can't walk...Aren't I just the proudest American?' The Mage readied himself to fight the 'Baby Bear', which had understandably become angrier after some asshole walked up and killed its mother right in front of it. Though, the beast's rage did provide it some benifits, much to Leo's dismay.

'Okay, I'm just going to engage in a totally regular swordfight with a totally regular bear...Maybe I could try to tame it, though?...NO, BAD THOUGHTS! I WILL NOT FIGURE OUT HOW TO TAME URSA'S!...Wait, wasn't that Ursa a bit smaller just a second ago?' The Mage stared at his opponent, dumbfounded as he watched it grow. It didn't gain any of the spikes that Majors usually have, but its size now rivalled that of 'Papa Bears', which was moments away from being decapitated by Jaune. "Ooohhh, shit..."

 ***** Baby Bear (Enraged) ( **Level**?)

 _ **List of active buffs**_ :

 **Revenge:** _Eye contact inflicts 'terror' debuff on those who aren't prepared. User will only be able to focus on a single target. Physical attacks inflict 4x damage._

 **Regeneration:** _It's pretty self-explanatory...You cannot slowly chip away at this beast's health, you must hit it hard and fast to kill it._

 **Enrage:** _It's rage makes it powerful, but also predictable._

Leo rolled to the left as the Grimm charged him recklessly, avoiding it completely.

It may have been a large Ursa, though it was still a young one.

And a young Grimm is a stupid Grimm.

It was at this point where he could've sworn he heard Oobleck's voice shout "Yes, excellent!", but maybe it was a trick of the wind.

Spinning around, the Ursa wildly charged towards the Mage again, who sidestepped and left a deep gash along one leg. Leo sprinted over to the Grimm as it slowly turned around to face him, though the fact that a rather large human had jumped up onto it's back and had plunged a sword into the top of it's head...made it somewhat difficult to do little more than writhe about, especially considering how said sword was also on fire.

As it wildly flailed about, 'Baby Bear' slammed its back into a tree, knocking Leo off of his feet before it promptly landed on him. "Fuck..." He groaned. The beast was about as heavy as one would expect from a massive dead demon bear, though it was swiftly disappating.

"Damn I'm glad that I can store Mana in my sword beforehand." He grumbled.

A few moments later, after it had gotten light enough to push off of him, the Mage got up and opened his inventory to grab another jar of sap, which he had since decided was his favourite thing in Remnant.

 _ *****_ _Due to the rude insult you just inflicted upon your own GODDAMN SOUL, your stats have all been cut in half! Good luck fighting anything!_

'Oh shit...Umm...second favourite thing?'

 _ *****_ _Thats better...Your stats have been returned to normal!_

 _ *****_ _You defeated two of the three bears! The third bear lies dead at the feet of Goldilocks._

 _ *****_ _The Faunus of Forever Fall have finally been put to rest._

'What's that about? Is this about that thing that Goodwich was going on about earlier?'

 _ *****_ _You got_ _ **9000EXP**_ _!_

...Right. Well, Leo began to make his way back to Goodwich, noting that Jaune was strolling away from Cardin with a look of sheer determination painted onto his face, while the bully in question looked like he should've worn the brown pants before coming out today.

The Mage immediately changed his course to intercept the blonde, though Jaune seemed to be heading off in Goodwich's direction anyways. "Hey, Jaune." He said calmly, whilst taking a sip from the straw in one of the jars.

The blonde turned and regarded Leo with a cold expression for half a moment, before he realised who it was and put on a smile. "Oh, hey Leo. Whats up?"

"Eh, not much. What about you? How's that assignment going for ya?" The Mage teased, not seeing a jar of sap in Jaune's possession, also knowing full-well what had happened.

Jaune shrugged. "Its going alright. I haven't quite finished it yet, I got held up for a bit. But I've still have plenty of time to-Huh?" His facade of nonchalant-ness was quickly shattered as one of Leo's many jars was being held out to him. 'Wait...didn't he only have one jar in his hands when he caught up to me?'

"Well? It'll save you some time, which you could use to figure out what you're going to say to Pyrrha, not to mention the rest of your team." The Brunette replied, a smirk slowly finding his way across his face.

"Oh, right. Thanks." Jaune took the jar gratefully, taking a few steps as the two friends walked along in a comfortable silence before the rest of what the Mage had said finally sunk in. "Ohhhh no."

"What?"

"What do I say to the others? How do I explain...that!?"

"I dunno." Came the short reply.

The two continued on for about half a minute before Leo decided to come up with something. "Well, the way I see it, you won. You got over this whole debacle without anyone's help and proved that you belong in Beacon, despite how obvious it is that you do anyways."

"Where are you going with this?" Jaune questioned.

"-But at this point, preserving your pride isn't a good idea. You pushed away your team and partner because of this. You need to apologise to them."

The Knight gave Leo a glare that told him 'duh'. "I know that, I just don't know...how...to word it."

"Simple. Tell them that you fucked up, that you're sorry and won't do it again if you can help it. Maybe arrange some trip down to Vale or something to hang out together."

Jaune pondered this for a few moments before asking a question. "Will that work?"

A shrug was his immediate response. "I dunno"

"Wow...you're a big help, you know that?" The Knight drawled sarcastically.

"Well, I mean, being honest worked for the last person that I had this type of talk with." Leo reasoned, remembering his chat with Weiss a few weeks back.

"Yeah, but...what if the others don't accept my apology? What then?"

The Mage sighed, 'He's overthinking this far too much.'

"They will...mainly because they'd just be happy to have their leader back. I know for certain that Ruby would be pretty chuffed if you stopped avoiding everyone like the plague."

"But-" Jaune began, only for Leo to spin on his heel to face him.

Somehow, he now held a new jar that was completely full to the brim with tree sap. 'What the...?' Jaune thought.

"Dude! You're overthinking this, so stop."

"Huh?" Somehow, the Knight didn't understand just how he was overthinking this.

The Mage pinched the brow of his nose, sighing in frustration. "You have Nora, Ren and Pyrrha on your team. Nora will just be happy to have the gang back together and we both know it. Ren wouldn't dare to cross Nora's opinion, though I'd say he'd be the same either way. While Pyrrha would just want to see you back with the team, while maybe offering to help you improve again.-"

"How do you know about that?" He intervened.

"Don't worry about it, I know everything. Either way, your team would just want you back. If you improve, then they'll be even more pleased with you."

Jaune remained silent, likely thinking about the many ways that such a conversation with his team could go.

"Only if you can suck up your pride and apologise, that is."

"...Right..."

"So, Jaune...what're you gonna do?"

 ** _End:_**

 **Yeah, sorry about the lack of updates. I've been a tad preoccupied with exams and such, though my 'update schedule' (Laugh track from friends kicks in) should be back on track now.**

 **I don't think I explained this earlier, and I can't be bothered to go back and check so: Leo's spells can basically have infinite mana chucked into them, if a spell says it costs '60mp', then thats just a guideline for the most efficient one that maximises damage while conserving as much mp as possible.**

 **Basically, the more mana used, the less a spell's damage increases with each mp used.**

 **For example, at first, a single point of MP in a spell that only uses 1mp might be able to take down 1% of someones aura, while 1000mp in that same spell might only be able to take down 100% of a persons aura. The more mana used, the less efficient it is.**

 **Though Leo hasn't figured that out** ** _just_** **yet.**

 **Yeah...Jaune and Leo are best buds now. I don't even know** ** _why_** **I did this, to be honest. Though I do have some ideas on what to do with that in the future.**


	7. Chapter 7:The Spartan and the Scholar P1

**Spartan and the Scholar isn't some half-assed fanfic ship name, it's just referencing something i put into the last chapter without thinking, in the bit where Leo was at CRDL's table, he said something about Pyrrha wanting to duel in combat class the day after.**

 **This is that.**

Chapter 7: The Spartan and the Scholar

* * *

After that little chat with Jaune, the two made their way back to their respective teams, with Jaune taking his team a wee-ways away deeper into the forest to probably apologise and grovel in private, while Leo...

"Where were you?!" A frustrated Heiress hissed. "Blake and Yang had to deal with a King Taijitu when they were trying to find Ms. Goodwich! They were both near a river, and do you know what would've been really helpful in that situation?"

Leo paused for a moment and sighed. "Lemme guess...lightni-"

"LIGHTNING! So, where were you?!"

The Mage held up his hands in surrender. "Look, I had a bad feeling about team CRDL, turns ou-"

"AGAIN?!" She seethed, clearly fed up with how he constantly looked out for Jaune whenever he could, along with helping the knight with some physical training to help get him closer to his peers. "Honestly, I don't even know why YOU of all people elect to waste your time overseeing such a useless-"

"OOookay!" Yang drawled loudly as she stepped inbetween the two. "Chill out for a sec, Weiss-cream. How's about we hear what Sparks has to say for himself?"

Weiss's gaze snapped between the two for a few moments before she huffed indignantly.

"So." The Mage began. "Basically, team CRDL had some blackmail material on Jaune. That's why he's been acting pretty 'friendly' with them." Leo held up his hands and made fake quotation marks at the word 'friendly'.

Ignoring the near-silent gasp from his leader, he continued."-This time, they were trying to get him to humiliate Pyrrha by throwing a jar of sap and some rapier wasps at her, or else they would reveal that info about him. Jaune said he would rather get humiliated and expelled himself rather than do anything to harm his partner. They fought, an Ursa Major showed up and was about to eat Cardin-buuut Jaune kicked its teeth in."

"Yeeeahhhh, we kinda saw that last bit." Ruby chimed in.

"It was hardly a fight. More like him flailing about, hoping to get a lucky hit in. What I'm wondering is how you saw it." The still-seething Heiress said. "As far as I could tell, you weren't anywhere that would have let you see into the clearing."

'How the hell did nobody see me? I was literially fighting 2 giant demon bears.' Leo wondered casually. "Simple. I was killing a couple of other Ursai that were trying to get to the clearing."

"Oh,SoThatsWhatThatBigLoudRoarWas." Their Leader mumbled quietly.

"Yeah. Two others were rushing after that one that Jaune fought. I decided to see if he could handle one Ursa by himself, while I was at it." He replied, not exactly lying, but also not really telling the truth.

From the few glances that he had shot toward the Knight as he battled the Grimm, he looked to have fared alot better than he did in the show.

Evidently, the training that the two had done indeed helped the lanky blonde, at least to a minor extent.

"So, you just let that-..." Weiss began, cutting herself off before she openly insulted Jaune infront of his two best friends. "...Him get batted around by a Grimm that was at least twice his height to see if he could handle it?"

"Didn't you do the exact same thing?" Leo retorted sharply, causing Ruby and her to grimace.

"How did you-?...Well, that's because Pyrrha-" She began, only for the Mage to cut her off.

"She wanted to see if he could handle it, right? Well, he could." Leo said.

"How did we completely miss you fighting some Grimm, though?" Ruby said curiously.

'Because you and Weiss are blind, Ruby.' He thought to himself. Biting back a smile, he instead gave a...more respectable response. "Well, I suppose that I was trying to be a bit quieter than usual. Didn't want Jaune to look over and see me fighting multiple Ursai with no effort when he was struggling with one."

"Ahhhh." Their Leader nodded sagely.

"So there Weiss, that's that problem solved."

Weiss continued to stutter and fume for a few moments, The Mage stood there, slightly confused, until Yang saved him by whispering. "I think she's mad because of how much time you've been spending with Vomit-boy and not hanging out with us all that much...I'm cool with it 'cause I see your reasoning, but I think she isn't. Just saying."

"Oh." He whispered back. 'Thanks Yang.'

"Weiss." Leo began, catching the Heiress's attention...and immediate ire. "I know I've been running off to help out Jaune a fair bit, but that's just because we're buds and he needed help at the time. Considering how he went against that Ursa? I don't think he'll need my help as much anymore, so that means I'll definitely be around in case another Taijitu incident happens. We good?"

Weiss opened her mouth to retort, but seemingly couldn't come up with anything.

So she settled on a different response.

"Fine."

Everyone in team RWBHY stood in an awkward silence for a few moments. With Yang playing with her hair, Weiss glaring at Leo, arms crossed. The Mage looking between each of his fellow team members, Ruby twiddling her fingers awkwardly and Blake...

Well, she was just being Blake.

At least she didn't bring her smut out on the field trip.

Oh...nevermind, she soon got fed up with the silence and flipped to a marked page on 'ninjas of love' volume 1.

"...Sooooooo." Ruby began, attempting to bring an end to the sudden silence. "Do you guys wanna go down to Vale this weekend?"

"Why?" Weiss hissed, clearly still quite annoyed at...possibly everything, at this point.

"Uhhhhh, team...bonding exercise?"

"The earliest stage of the Vytal festival begins the day after tomorrow, I wouldn't mind looking around." Blake chimed in.

"I heard some students from Vacuo were gonna be getting here by boat this Saturday, too." Yang said.

Upon hearing that, Weiss's mood took a complete 180, going from borderline furious to enthusiastically happy. "Well, I suppose we, as good students of Beacon, should welcome them to the city...And I wouldn't mind observing how Vale has handled the festival..."

"The Vytal festival...?" Leo murmured. 'Okay, we have to go. Too much happens on that day in the show for us not to. Blake meets Sun, Sun stalks Blake like an absolute weirdo, we meet Penny...and stuff like that.'

"Yes, the Vytal festival. Now, I know you pretty much lived under a rock before Beacon, but do you at least know what the Vytal festival is? Or will I be forced to teach you THAT as well? Considering how all you never even learned a single thing about the world before going to one of the four academies?!" A certain Heiress snapped.

That caught him off-guard. Leo looked over to the Heiress with slightly widened eyes. 'Where is this coming from? Surely, she can't be that annoyed that I've been hanging out with Jaune. She's alot more snappy than usual, that's for sure...' The Mage thought to himself.

Usually, Weiss was quite a nice...ish person to be around, at least as far as he could tell. She wasn't nearly as mean or rude to him as she was to everyone during the show.

Seeing the slight amount of shock and surprise in his eyes, Weiss suddenly looked like she regretted what she had just said, but before she could say anything, Yang stepped in. "Woah there, Ice queen. No need to be so snappy, Sparks had a decent enough reason to watch out for Vomit-boy, so how's about we all be n-ice to him. There's no need to be so...cold!"

The Mage sighed as the others groaned and promptly began strolling away from the Brawler upon hearing those god-forsaken puns.

"Aw, c'mon! That was a good one!" She called after the group as her and Leo jogged to catch up. "That was a good one, right?...Right?!"

"...6 out of 10."

-Later, back at Beacon-

As the class made it to Beacon, Goodwich gave a simple congratulations before going off to grade everyone's performance.

"Good work students, the rest of the day is yours to do as you see fit. I shall go review your indiviual and team performances." She announced as she strutted off.

This left team CRDL to quickly take their leave. Though not before Cardin nodded gratefully to a certain Blonde.

Which led JNPR and RWBHY going to the cafeteria together.

In said cafeteria, Nora had become a human vacuum cleaner and was currently in the process of demolishing beacon's entire pancake supply.

Ren was apologising to the cooks, who had come out of the kitchen after a battle with the Valkyrie, which had led to them losing Beacon's entire pancake supply.

Because for some reason, someone decided that Beacon needed to stockpile pancakes.

In the Headmaster's office, Ozpin felt as if someone had just directed a passive-aggressive insult at him. "Probably just the council...again..." He mumbled, lifting his coffee to take another sip.

Back in the cafeteria, Jaune and Pyrrha were engaged in a conversation. With the Spartan simply looking pleased to be seated next to him once again.

Ruby and Yang were chatting about...something, while Weiss was eating her food in a sullen silence, stopping only to give the team's resident Mage the occasional look.

Blake was...

Yeah, she was still reading smut.

And finally, Leo...

The Mage held his scroll out infront of him ontop of the table. The screen had some random news article on it, but he didn't care about that.

What he did care about, was his stats.

'Hmm...what-oh-what do I spend my points on...?' He looked up from his scroll, noticing that Pyrrha had been trying to get his attention. "Yeah?"

"I was wondering if you were still up for a spar in combat class tomorrow?" She asked innocently, seemingly oblivious to how people from nearby tables simultaneously spat out their food and drinks.

The Mage stared at the Spartan for a few moments as he used 'Observe'

Safe to say, he immediately regretted accepting the challenge to spar with her.

 **Pyrrha Nikos (Level 53)**

 **Titles: "The Invincible Girl": Grants +? DEX and ?**

 **Semblance: Polarity**

 **Age: 17**

 **Race: Human**

 **Gender: Female**

 **Height: 6ft**

 ***HP: Na/Na (Only those with 'g'ods gift' have HP)**

 **MP: Na/Na**

 **Aura Levels: 100%**

 **STR: 24**

 **DEX: 102**

 **END: 53**

 **VIT: 20**

 **INT: 56**

 **WIS: 20**

 **CHA: 20**

'Ohhhh, right...More Mana it is! I'm going to get absolutely bulldozed if I let her get in close, especially is she has that much DEX. Also, didn't HP show up on people before? What changed? Eh, maybe just an update.' Leo thought to himself as he dumped his 5 stat points into WIS. "Yeah, I'm game."

'Oh god, how well do I even match up against her right now?'

 **Leo Helios (level 23)**

 **Titles: "The Storm"**

 **Semblance: 'g'ods Gift**

 **Age 17**

 **Gender: Male**

 **Race: Human**

 **Height: 7"3**

 **Notable equipment:**

 **Leo's Jacket: Elemental defence, Light armour**

 **Sun Ring: ? Affinity**

 **Deathless: 1-handed catalyst, grants extra MP regen until full when MP is depleted completely. Can be used to store as much Mana as you can store within yourself, scales with WIS.**

 ***HP: 300/300**

 **MP 200/450**

 **Aura Levels: 100%**

 **Unspent Stat points: 0**

 **STR: 34 (Physical Strength)**

 **DEX: 25 (Physical Agility, Combat Skill, Other Miscellaneous things associated with Dexterity.)**

 **END: 35 (HP regen, Physical Endurance, Aura efficient)**

 **VIT: 30 (Max HP, Max Aura level)**

 **INT: 32 (Spell damage, MP regen)**

 **WIS: 45 (Max MP, Aura regen)**

 **CHA: 23 (Ability to convince others, self-confidence. Affects Speech Stat.)**

'...Not very well. I have more STR, VIT, WIS and CHA, but talking my way out of a spar is unlikely, so the last one's useless there. I think I need to get even more MP...somehow, if I'm going to stand a chance.'

 ***Quest start!**

 **The Spartan against the Scholar**

 **You are at a severe disadvantage against Pyrrha, you need something to give you an edge.**

 **Hint: Check through your inventory for things that you may have missed**

 **Quest steps: Get more WIS, Get more INT, Use ? and Create a ? to ? (Optional step)**

 **Rewards: 5 WIS, 5 INT, Lightning spells will cost 5% less to cast (Permanent buff)**

 **Faliure results: You will likely lose your duel**

'Huh...'

It didn't take long for people in the cafeteria to begin murmuring and pulling out their scrolls to tell their friends what was happening.

'The Storm' was going to fight 'The Invincible Girl' tomorrow.

Two of the most powerful first-years in Beacon, in terms of combat, were going to fight.

A video like that was certain to get views.

'Hmm, I must be right about that thing with nobody but me, Ozpin and such being the only ones with MP.' A quick scan of a few others in the cafeteria told him that he was indeed correct, as everyone else simply had N/A where their MP should be.

And for some reason, a few people had seemingly just spat out various foods and drinks onto their peers.

'Huh...wonder how that happened...'

"Grand, I hope you're prepared." Pyrrha's chirping voice brung him back into reality as she went back to her conversation with her favourite Knight.

"So do I." He grumbled in response, not enjoying the thought of getting slapped into the ground by the Champion repeatedly if he failed his latest quest.

* * *

After lunch, the two teams were free to do whatever they wished for the rest of the day, courtesy of Miss Goodwich.

And thus, Leo took the time to simply hang out with his team and friends...

That was exactly why he was currently alone in the library, furiously scrolling through his inventory for whatever that hint in his latest quest told him about.

'Come onnnn...What am I even looking for?'

* * *

As RWBY and JNPR walked around the campus, Ruby suddenly stopped. "Huh? What's up sis?" Yang asked as she bumped into her sister's back.

The Reaper looked around for a few seconds before staring forward blankly. "Where'd Leo go?"

"...Huh...I dunno, he was just with us a moment ago, wasn't he?" Yang mumbled as she watched Weiss give her best attempt at imitating a tomato.

* * *

'What the hell am I even looking for?!' Leo wondered as he flipped through another page of his inventory.

Now, there was also another thing that the Mage was wondering...

'AND WHY THE FUCK DO I HAVE 196 PAGES FULL OF STUFF!? EACH PAGE HAS 50 GODDAMN ITEMS! THAT'S NEARLY...10,000 ITEMS! WHERE DID I EVEN GET THIRTEEN COFFEE MAKERS?!'

And there is a very simple answer to all of those questions.

Leo is a hoarder, especially when he has infinite room for said items.

 _ **-Meanwhile-**_

A frustrated Heiress stomped through Beacon's gardens, a sheepish Reaper at her side. "Uugh! The...the nerve of him!"

Out of everyone on team RWBHY, Weiss, for some reason, always seemed the most annoyed whenever their resident Mage ignored or ditched them in favour of something else.

"Weiss?"

The girl in question took a deep breath as she stopped walking. "Yes...Ruby?" She hissed.

"Why do you always get so angry whenever he does something like this?"

"Because, Ruby." Weiss replied, still seething. "HE, was the first person here that I would actually have called a friend. I found him, after his initiation, right there-" She continued, pointing at a regular bench. "-crying. And we had an actual, friendly conversation. He didn't know me or the Schnee name, but showed me respect worthy of it regardless. I-literially-taught him how to read-and yet he just ups and ditches us whenever he feels like it for someone who isn't even in his team! Even if I just want to spend time with him, he just says 'Sorry, in a bit' or something like that. It's so...Uugh!"

"Wait..." The Leader mumbled. "You never want to spend time with anyone! Why do you want to spend with Leo, but not me?!"

"Because spending time with someone in Beacon leads to studying together, and he takes the best notes out of any of us, by far." Weiss deadpanned. "You should know, considering how, when he doesn't write his notes in English, you or Yang are always making off with them!"

"Oh...hehe, sorry."

"Even Blake took them once, none of you ever return them, too!" The Heiress continued, placing her hands on her hips.

"What? Yes we do!" Ruby retorted, unknowingly mimicking her partner's pose.

"Then why have I never fo-" Weiss cut herself off before she could continue. It took Ruby a few seconds, but she eventually pieced together what she was about to say.

"Have you been snooping through Leo's stuff?!"

She stuttered for a few moments before reaffirming her stance. "Only his books! He only owns clothes and school supplies, and I'd never pick through his outfits to look for notes!" She defended.

"Okay, just making sure." The Reaper relented. "Still a bit weird though."

"But-I-...Ugh, whatever. Look, he is one of the few people who shows me the respect I deserve, isn't afraid to call me out on my...older habits, isn't interested in me-in that way and is a somewhat good friend, so that just makes it all the more annoying when he just ditches us in preferation of some scraggly, lanky blonde or some recordings of Professor Ooblecks lessons that just seem to vanish once he's done with them."

The two continued on for a bit until Ruby placed her hand on her partner's shoulder. "Hey. He DID say that he would spend more time with us, since Jaune apparently won't be needing his help as much."

Weiss stared at her feet for a few moments before looking into her friend's eyes. "I didn't mean what I said in the forest, about him being...well, stupid."

Ruby simply smiled in response. "I know."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the library, Leo's inventory screen flipped back 73 pages.

Back to a screen that was filled with nothing but notes and recordings from Oobleck's class.

'...Calm...' He took a deep breath. '...deeeep breaths...'

It wasn't working.

Now he would have to press a button, wait 2 and a half seconds for the next page to load and do that many more times.

3 Minutes of agonizing pain.

Just to get back to where he was.

* * *

"Hey Weiss?" Ruby questioned.

"Yes, Ruby?" The Heiress replied as the two exited the Gardens, heading in the direction of the dorms.

"If you wanted to say sorry to him, why didn't you do it in the cafeteria?"

"Thats the cafeteria, where everyone else is, Ruby. I would...prefer...to apologise in private."

"...oh...right, I guess that's be embarrassing." Ruby's face fell slightly for a few moments before perking up. "Well, he said that he'd spend more time with us now, since Cardin is apparently gonna stop bullying Jaune, so you'll be able to do it anytime. Someone probably called him away. Or maybe he got another detention for annoying Miss Goodwich."

The Heiress huffed, clearly not believing either of those statements.

Neither of them noticed a blur of green and white heading in their direction, muttering something about how he was a Doctor, not a Professor.

Not until it was too late, that is.

Nor did they notice Miss goodwich angrily storming over to the library in response to a beam of light erupting from the roof, that the pair somehow hadn't noticed.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the library...

'WHO THE FUCK DESIGNED THIS SHIT!?'

* * *

 _ **-JNPR's dorm-**_

Jaune sighed as he closed the door to his dorm behind him, things all seemed like they were back to normal.

"Hey, uhh..Jauney b-...Jaune."

Except...they weren't.

Because, for one, Cardin was here...but hadn't done anything bad...yet.

Jaune remained silent, he had said all that he wanted back in the forest.

He was ready for this.

To have Cardin come here and gloat to his face before getting him expelled.

Oh well, it was worth it to not harm Pyrrha.

Though...why did he look nervous?

"I...I-uhh, I just wanted to come and apologise."

'Wait, what?'

"I've been a real jerk to you." Cardin continued, hardly noticing the confusion that was etched onto the knight's face. "I thought that you didn't really deserve to be here, what with all of those fake transcripts 'n all..."

Jaune nodded silently, eyes wide with shock. 'Cardin..? Apologising? Whats even happening?'

"...But, you honestly showed me today-that you deserve to be here. My own team-my best friends bolted, but you...I made your life hell, so why-I thought-would you decide to save my life?"

The Bully was silent for a few moments, as if asking for the reason.

Jaune opened his mouth at the same time as Cardin.

"Because it was the right thing to do." "Because it's the right thing to do?"

The two stared at each other in silence, until Cardin grinned. "Huh, well it seems I was right. You DO deserve to be here, Jauney-boy. Tell you what, I'll keep this little secret of yours...if you..."

Upon hearing those words, Jaune cringed internally. 'Oh no, not again'

"...If you get better."

"Huh?" The Knight's brain ground to a halt.

"Get better. You've got the guts for it, which is more than I can say for my own team. You just need to get stronger."

Jaune couldn't believe his luck! He did what he thought was right and it was actually going his way for once. "T-that's it? No...no papers? No going out into the emerald forest to bring you back some shiny rock or something?"

"Nah, nothing else. Though, if you could get Thunder fu-...I mean, that friend of yours, to stop acting so oumdamn intimidating, then that would help Rus' sleep at night. And then I can finally work on getting our team back on track."

"u-uh..." The Blonde didn't know what to say.

Obviously.

Eventually though, he figured out how words are supposed to work, so thats a plus. "Uhh, sure. T-thanks...Cardin."

"No problem. You saved my life, Least I can do is shut my trap about this." He replied as he strolled off, casually walking into a shorter Faunus guy, almost knocking him over.

Jaune watched the retreating form of his ex-bully for a few moments, until his brain caught up with what had just happened.

Then he went back into his dorm, laid down face-up on his bed and sat there for a while, completely unmoving.

"Is...Jaune-Jaune gonna be okay?" Nora said to her partner.

"Hmm..." Ren stared at the unmoving, unblinking form of his wide-eyed leader for a few moments before nodding in affirmation. "Most likely."

"Yay!"

 **-Meanwhile, back in the library-**

'Is...is this it?' Leo thought, staring at a skill book that he got from a quest some time ago.

 **Skill book: Mana Crystals**

 **Recieved from quest: You'd better believe it bucko!**

 **Using this item grants the magical skill (spell): Mana Crystals**

'I mean, I might as well use it. Why didn't I use it as soon as I got it though?'

A quick check revealed the reason.

* **Last time you tried to use this book, you failed to meet the requirements: 40 WIS, 30 INT**

'Oh, that's why...'

 ***Do you want to use this book?**

 ***Yes *No**

After he clicked the ***Yes** button, Leo was quickly enveloped by rings of orange light that flowed around him like water. "Woah..." Seconds passed and the rings swiftly began to fade away, almost becoming similar to sea spray. He looked around to make sure that nobody saw that before making his way to his list of spells.

 ***Mana Crystals (level 1)**

 **Pour Mana into a Crystal over time to:**

 **-Increase Maximum Mana**

 **-Regenerate Mana**

 **-Reduce spell cost (Dependant on crystal used. Pure Mana Crystals can be created for 100MP or Dust crystals can be used)**

 ***Warning!**

 **-Mana manipulation can be used in conjunction with this spell, requires a Pure Mana Crystal to do so, however.**

 **-Using a Mana crystal completely halts all Mana regen for an entire week. HP and Aura regen are not affected.**

 ***Catalysts are not affected by any of the effects of this spell.**

 ***Mana crystals can hold large amounts of Mana, however much you put into the crystal is how much you will receive when you use it.**

 **If your Mana capacity isn't large enough to hold that much Mana, then it will simply increase temporarily to accommodate it.**

The Mage stared at the spell for a few seconds before cracking a grin. 'This...this is so bullshit. THIS is what I need. Now...what will I use against Pyrrha? Lightning or magical blue fire?'

He was honestly better with lightning, though Pyrrha would expect that and has likely planned for it.

He hadn't used his usual blue fires very much. In fact, he had only ever used it to coat his weapons or fists. That might catch her off-guard, but he wasn't at all experienced with it.

Or, there was a third option.

'Oooo...OR, I could use Deathless in a spar for once, fill that with magic and do the same to a crystal. I could use whatever element I wanted with Deathless while doing massive attacks with...fire, I want fire. I could just play off the sword attacks as some rare Dust or something.'

 ***Quest step complete!**

 **The Spartan against the Scholar (Part 1)**

 **You found something to give you an edge, you might just win...maybe.**

 ***You got 5 WIS!**

 ***You got 5 INT!**

 ***You feel...calm. Lightning spells are slightly less taxing. (Cost 5% less mana)**

 **-Quest update-**

 **The Spartan against the Scholar (Part 2)**

 **Win against Pyrrha Nikos**

 **Quest Rewards: 50,000EXP, +Reputation.**

 **Faliure results: -Reputation**

'Well, I certainly feel better. Time to go prep.'

And with that, Leo began making his way off to his dorm.

Completely unaware of the Heiress-who had been forced to listen to Oobleck ramble-that awaited him, apology and lecture both handy and at the ready.

Or, well, he would've gone to his dorm...if he didn't suddenly get zapped up into the sky by a beam of light...

"Hey, kid."

"God. Fucking dammit, Ancius. I've had a horrible time with that inventory and I was just gonna go do something. What is it? And did you really have to beam me up? You can teleport people to different places without the flashy stuff."

"Of course I had to beam you up! It looks badass...Also, use a little 'g' when saying god, okay? Don't disrespect us simple deities. Also, I have something for you...Call it a...late Christmas gift."

 **-End-**

 **Slight cliffhanger, I had the 'gift' ready as one of those omakes, but decided that just having it as a filler chapter would be good. MMMMM, just what everyone wants. Filler that doesn't progress the story in a meaningful way!**

 **Nah, but it is filler with a use, at least.**

 **...Character-building filler.**

 **Sorry that I'm so inconsistent.**

 **As inconsistent as lumpy custard that has been left on a bench made out of a single, incredibly large block of lard for 3 years, yes I know. I am sorry for that.**

 **Next chapter is a sort of mini-chapter about Ancius and what he is, how he does things and stuff. He isn't going to be a regular occurrence, but he will pop in on occasion, so I feel as if giving him some backstory and character might be good. Thats chucked in alongside the 'gift' for Leo.**


	8. Chapter 8: Ancius: The bored 'g'od

**Here's that filler chapter I was going on about.**

 **Chapter 8: A Simple God, but with a little 'g'**

Ancius liked to think he was quite an interesting fellow, even amongst his fellow deities.

For one, most gods didn't even bother to create an actual form for themselves, preferring to remain as some intangible spirit.

Lazy bastards.

He, on the other hand, was a rather large, white-robed old man. For some reason, the god of another universe had taken a look at his form and had some random writer use that for a 'Gandalf the white' or something in a book.

But anyway, back to the other deities and him. Like most things, gods and other such universe-creating beings were all brought into existence, by 'THE God'.

He doesn't have an actual name, per se. But all of the gods and deities know him and refer to him as 'God', but with a but 'G'.

This God created them. Gave them massive amounts of power, spaces to do things and some basic 'godly' knowledge and then went about his business.

These 'spaces' are the size of the average universe, by the way.

None of the other gods have ever reported seeing him again, though not for a lack of trying on the parts of some. All that proves his continued existence is the occasional new deity popping up with their very own universe.

Anyways, back on track. Ancius, unlike most of the other gods, decided that he didn't really want to spend his days creating things, instead preferring to simply watch over his brothers and sisters as they moulded their very own worlds.

Some decided to join their 'spaces' into one, the Brother gods of Remnant being one such pair. Being created at the same time gave the two some strange type of kinship that none of the others really understood.

Strangely enough, the universe that held 'Earth' was a...well.

It was a complete clusterfuck.

So many gods had come and gone over the years, occasionally listening to the narcissistic ruler of that universe as he requested others to do HIS work.

Either way, Ancius decided that he was going to be smart. See, when a god uses their powers to create something, their powers diminish slightly. Like a fuel tank.

While they are all immortal, it is certainly advised to give your universe the ability to function without you, as some gods, over time, found that they were somewhat powerless to change things.

That is why this particular Deity was lounging about on his simple, stone white throne, that being one of the only things for him to have ever created.

Though that does come with one large downside.

He was bored. Very bored.

Sure, he could look at another god's creations and stories, he could do whatever he wanted, really. But he wanted more...

He wanted to be involved. To say that he had a hand in something.

Then again, every god was like that. It was simply in their nature to create and then tamper with said creations however they see fit.

"Hmm. Let's see what he is doing right now..." He murmured to himself as he closed his eyes, simply willing his mind to travel to a different world and spy on his favourite piece of entertainment.

While most gods learnt how to better create, Ancius learnt to better use other abilities. That, accompanied by how his 'fuel tank' of power is simply larger than most gods, having never created much, make him quite a terrifying and powerful individual.

Anyway, Ancius gazed upon Remnant, where Leo was currently having a...slight issue with his inventory.

"Oh dear. I, am the one who designed that...'shit', kid." He chuckled to himself, seeing the boy's frustration alleviated some of his growing boredom.

"Hmm, wonder what his family is doing." A quick zip over to that narcissistic god's universe told him that...they weren't doing all too well.

They were having some type of...Christmas breakfast, though they didn't seem all that into it.

The smallest girl, who looked to be about 9 or 10, was quiet, picking at her food in a solemn silence.

The larger girl, who sat next to her was doing something similar and looked to be about 20 or so.

The largest two, presumably the parents, looked like...well...shit. The father hadn't brushed his somewhat thinning hair in a while, nor had the mother with hers. They both really looked like they needed some sleep.

Ancius, surprisingly, actually felt a pang of guilt strike his heart. Deities usually didn't feel much in the way of human emotion, though he occasionally did.

'Probably just some side effect of speaking to them.' He thought to himself. Despite that, he couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene.

They just looked so...sad, they were evidently a closely-knit family. Their first Christmas without their brother and son, who was probably the life of the party, when the elder sister wasn't being that herself, that is.

"Hmm, what to do..." Ancius mused. Thinking to himself for a few moments, he got an idea. "I suppose...it IS Christmas, after all."

And quite frankly, threatening the god of the Earth's universe with total annihilation if he didn't grant him access was one of his better ideas, if he said so himself. '...I could become a conqueror...of gods...A god-conqueror...'

After promptly deleting that thought, he zipped back over to Remnant, spotted Leo, who seemed to have just found whatever it was he was looking for in his inventory and grinned. 'Come here, you...'

One beam of light later, a slightly disgruntled Mage was staring at the god. "Hey, kid." He said.

"...God. Fucking dammit, Ancius." Leo began. 'Woah! That's pretty hostile.'

"I've had a horrible time with that inventory and I was just gonna go do something. What is it? And did you really have to beam me up? You can teleport people to different places without the flashy stuff."

"Of course I had to beam you up! It looks badass...Also, use a little 'g' when saying god, okay? Don't disrespect us simple deities. Anyways, I have something for you...Call it a...late Christmas gift."

"How do I use a little g when talk-...Whatever...So, what is it?" The Mage calmed down, managing to hide all of the snark in the end of his sentence.

"You're family is having Christmas without you." Ancius replied bluntly, earning a slightly saddened Leo for his efforts. "So, I've decided that your Christmas gift...Is getting to spend some time with them."

If The Mortal's eyes could've widened anymore, then his eyelids would probably have been able to surround a bowling ball. Ontop of that, he was completely speechless.

The god sighed. "Yes, happy family time. Now, You might also want to explain how you aren't dead. Maybe show off your powers or something."

The Mage nodded dumbly, his thoughts practically raging like a wildfire. 'Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.'

Then, something occurred to him. "Wait, I thought you said that you couldn't send me back? Whats this about?"

'Oh shit. Umm' If Ancius could sweat, he would've felt an entire waterfall of it cascade down his face. "Well..." He began, completely unsure of how to tackle this problem. "Long story short, I threatened your world's god with absolute annihilation if he didn't let me send you there for a bit...but...He will probably get some other gods to protect him! Yes. That's right. He's a rather charismatic being, even amongst us deities."

That wasn't exactly a lie, per se. The god of that universe was rather silver-tongued, just...not to the extent of having other gods fight him.

It'd be like ordering a few moths to fly directly into oncoming traffic.

Though Leo clearly wasn't buying it.

"Fiiine." Ancius drawled, quickly thinking up another lie. "You mortals can't go back to a previous universe for more than a day. You get torn apart as your body tries to figure out which universe it belongs to if you do."

"...Well that's either a bullshit rule, or just plain bullshit."

The god crossed his arms, which had Leo think he was some sort of gangster Gandalf. "Do you want to test it?! Because I'm fine with you testing it."

"No, no. I trust you...sort of...no, not really. But I don't think you'd let me even stay there if I could, right?"

"Hmm, That's about right. You said you'd do it, so I expect you to not pussy out. Not like you can, either way."

"Right..." The Mage replied. "At least not without dying. So, are you gonna send me there now, or...-OhMyGod,NotThatGiantFryingPanAgai-"

Ancius stared down at the unconscious Mage as he allowed the cooking utensil to dissipate. 'I don't even need to do that, its just fun. I wonder if He'd be mad if I told him that I dragged him from his world for my entertainment...because there wasn't anything happening on Remnant that I didn't want to happen...'

The Mage's body twitched slightly, the god had evidently hit him so hard that his brain was fried. 'Nah, he wouldn't care.'

With a flash of light, Leo was gone from the god's universe.

Amber-orange eyes cracked open to reveal warm rays of sunlight pouring in through a slight gap in the curtains that lay just across from him.

Unfortunately, said light was shining right into his face.

"Why is it always a frying pan?" Leo grumbled to himself as he took in his surroundings.

He was back in his bedroom.

Granted, most of his stuff had been moved. But his twin-sized bed still remained as he remembered, as did his dresser.

He raised his right hand up to block the sun, casually letting sparks and miniature flames dance between his fingers as he did so, to check if he could still use magic.

Sure enough, he could. 'Explaining this stuff to them is going to be slightly easier now...'

Getting up, the Mage smiled as he heard the familiar sounds of conversation coming from what sounded like the lounge.

Or maybe it was the kitchen/dining room...It had been a while.

'Now...' Leo thought to himself. 'How the hell am I supposed to even approach this situation?'

He could just waltz in as if nothing was wrong, which could give everyone a heart attack and would be awkward, but would be quicker.

Or he could sneak out his window and knock on the front door, which might be better, as only one person would get a heart attack...well, before the rest all went into cardiac arrest. But the neighbors might see him, which would be a serious issue.

"Fuck it." He mumbled to himself as he snuck down the hallway, eventually getting to the upper middle-class lounge where, sure enough, his family were all playing 'Cards against humanity'.

What used to be his favourite card game.

In fact, it was the only one he ever really learnt how to play, aside from 'Go fish'.

Nobody had noticed him yet, which was good, because now he had to figure out how to approach this without it being awkward.

*1 Message from: Ancius

"Oi kid, get in there before I boot you in. Im giving you until people back on Remnant start freaking out. Also, I activated 'The Mind' but dialed it down a bit, just so you didn't freak out as much as they will, you're welcome."

'Gee, thanks Ancius. Activate that thing that I specifically don't want to use because it makes me feel permanently calm. Fair enough though. I bet I'd be crying right now if I didn't have it on.' The Mage thought as he tentatively knocked on the doorframe to the lounge.

Three pairs of eyes immediately shot over in his direction.

There was his mother, Denise's eyes. They were brown and always reminded him of dark chocolate, as did her shoulder-length hair.

His older sister, Rosemary's eyes. Her eyes were a deep brown that complemented her light brown hair, which was done up in a bun.

Then his little sister, Lily. Her eyes were a dark amber-orange that always drew attention to her amongst her friends, especially alongside her flowing Golden hair that literally sparkled in the sun.

After a few moments, Timothy, his father swiveled his head in his direction, Leo also casually took note that his usual greying blonde hair was slightly more grey than usual. Piercing amber eyes also glared his way for a moment, before softening considerably.

His family simply stared at him in shock, nobody dared to say anything, lest he was an illusion that was about to disappear.

"So...I guess I should start by saying I'm not dead?" He cracked a nervous smile to try and alleviate some of the tension.

It did not work.

Well...it made things less awkward, at least.

"Where the hell have you been?!" His dad half-shouted, looking incredibly relieved that his son wasn't dead.

"Okay!" Leo replied, cutting the others off before they could start too. "I'll explain everything, bu-oomph" Lily had suddenly rocketed over and buried her head in his side, hugging him so hard that his Aura actually began to take damage.

"LilyStop" He wheezed, earning a negative shake and a "mmph" for his valiant efforts.

"Sis. Let him go for a moment, you can hug him in a bit-but he's definitely got some explaining to do." Thank god for Rosey.

Lily hung on for a few more moments before suddenly digging around in his jacket pocket, immediately drawing out his scroll. "Oooo, wass this?" She mumbled as she danced away, back over to the safety of mum, earning both confused and amused looks.

"Dammit, lily." Leo chuckled, earning him only looks that promised death if he didn't start talking. He took a deep breath and- "Okay, so. Long story short, I was in another dimension-slash-universe thing, that thing Lil's has is called a scroll, its basically a phone, but better. There are literal demons that just casually walk about in the wilds, so the world I was on has people who hunt those demons. There are places to train to kill said demons and everybody has super powers, but mine are the best because it's literal magic. I got abducted by some god called Ancius who said he needed someone to help him, I said yes because you don't say no to a god. He gave me powers and hit me with a giant frying pan. I woke up on that world, where he had evidently been building this whole cover story for me. I've been at one of these places where you learn how to kill demons, I have a team and we are the only team of 5 in the entire academy. Oh, he also threatened this universe's god with total annihilation so that I could come here and spend Christmas with you all. And then he hit me with another giant frying pan."

To finish his explanation off, he willed electricity to flicker along his entire body, along with summoning deathless to his hand before setting it alight with a flick of his wrist. "And these are the type of powers that he gave me."

Once again, everyone was stuck into a state of silence.

"Coooool!"

Well, except for Lily, that is.

"Ooookay." Rosey began as she stood up and began making her way over to him. "I was about to call bullshit and ring up the mental health ward, but the flaming sword has me thinking twice. And just personally, I think that-might-sound like a good enough reason. Could you put the sword away now?"

The moment Deathless disappeared in a flurry of floating crystals, both Rosey and Lily had suddenly begun to squeeze the life out of him, the younger sibling even went as far to climb up so she could wrap herself around his torso.

 ***Aura levels: 91%**

Despite the crushing pain, Leo freed his arms and began to wrap them around his sisters before he spotted his parents, looking fondly over to them as they stood within one another's embrace. "Ey, c'mon. Don't you two want a hug as well?"

Needless to say, they wanted a hug.

 **-End-**

 **I realise that I said this was going to be a mini-chapter, which it technically is, by my usual standards, but I may have gone overboard.**

 **I apologise for that.**

 **This was my attempt at stifling any possible brooding or edginess that people would expect from someone who just basically lost their family a month or so ago. Or, as Ancius would say 'Happy family time'.**

 **When Leo dismisses a weapon, think of how they get summoned and dismissed in final fantasy 15. With all the weird floaty crystal stuff.**


End file.
